The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has stated it expects to finish linking 100% of its administrative procedures to the National Single Window (NSW) system in the first quarter of 2022. To carry out the national and ASEAN single-window mechanisms, MARD has connected 29 of the 33 administrative procedures at its subordinate units and granted digital licences to over 1.4 million dossiers via the NSW. According to a news report, the Deputy Head of MARD’s Division for Organisational and Personnel Affairs, Nguyen Xuan An, made the announcement at the Ministry’s meeting earlier this week.
In terms of administrative reform, in 2021, the Ministry updated and publicised 119 administrative procedures on the National Public Service Portal, abolished 58 others, and simplified three procedures related to natural disaster prevention and control. It proposed 429 of the 2,559 regulations on business activities be removed or simplified while reducing nearly VND219 billion (US$9.6 million), or 13.2%, of the compliance cost related to business activities.
Regarding administrative modernisation, An noted that MARD stepped up IT application to its operations, completed its information and reporting system, which was also linked to the government, and applied digital signatures to all documents. In 2022, An informed it would handle administrative procedures online to enhance transparency and save time and costs. The Ministry would deal with people and businesses’ opinions about problems related to the mechanisms, policies, and procedures within its remit online and overhaul the institutional system on agriculture and rural development.
The country has been pushing to digitise its services and core government operations. Earlier this month, OpenGov Asia reported that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a decision approving a project to develop the population database and applications for e-identification and e-authentication for the 2022-2025 period with a vision to 2030. Under the scheme, apart from the database and applications, citizen ID cards with electronic chips will serve administrative procedures and online public services supply, socio-economic expansion, and digital citizens development. The project will aid the completion of the ecosystem on connecting, exploiting, and enriching population data and the directions by leaders at all levels. In 2022, the old and new versions of citizen IDs will be integrated, enabling the e-identification of all citizens.
The connection and sharing of data between the national population and tax databases are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, while personal paper documents, including health insurance cards, driving licences, job licences, and vaccination certificates, will be integrated into the citizen IDs and the e-identification app VNEID. This year, e-authentication will be used for all information provided on the citizen IDs and VNEID. From 2023 to 2025, e-identification and e-authentication are expected to be applied to all people conducting administrative procedures at a one-stop-shop office at all levels. By 2023, the e-identification and e-authentication system will be upgraded, completed, and applied in e-transactions serving socio-economic development.
