Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has 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. As per a news report, 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.
Meanwhile, in 2022-2023, the e-identification and e-authentication system will be upgraded, completed, and applied in e-transactions serving socio-economic development. Major measures to implement the scheme include completing relevant legal regulations. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam was assigned to direct the project implementation and settle all relevant matters. A working group on the project implementation will be formed with the Minister of Public Security being the head. It aims to guide ministries, sectors, and localities on realising tasks of the project, making periodic reports to Deputy PM Dam on the results.
With the several digital transformation strategies that the government has deployed, cybersecurity is an increasingly important factor. Over the past few years, the Vietnamese Party and state have issued many policies to ensure information cyber safety and security. These policies and stances have been realised in specific strategies such as the Strategy for National Protection in Cyberspace, the National Border Protection Strategy, the National Cyber Security Strategy, and the Law on Cyber Security.
In December, to meet the increasing requirements of the task of ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace, the government asked the public security forces to step up security measures by improving the quality of training in information technology and cybersecurity. The government has said it will cooperate with countries, universities, and advanced technology groups in the world to absorb new technologies and experience, ensuring a high standard of cybersecurity is met to combat the growing number of cyber threats.
The Vietnamese Internet economy could reach US$220 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) by 2030, ranking second in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, according to a report. It is forecasted that the country’s digital economy will see a growth rate of 31% this year over the same period last year, reaching US$21 billion. The number of smartphone owners in the country increased from 59.2% in 2018 to 75% in 2021.
