January 19, 2017 | 18:23 (GMT+7)
Global e-Government rankings affect national competitiveness: Deputy PM
Global e-government rankings affect Vietnam’s investment attractiveness, national competitiveness, and negotiations on international trade deals, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said at a recent meeting.
Vietnam is ranked 89th overall among 193 countries in the United Nations E-Government Survey 2016. Its rankings in three component categories are 74th in the Online Service Index, 110th in the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, and 127th in the Human Capital Index.
Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam (C) chairing the meeting. Photo: VGP
The survey shows that more and more countries have been providing public services online through one-stop platforms. There were eight lower-middle-income economies listed among the 65 countries with a high E-Government Development Index, mostly thanks to administrative reforms.
New technologies such as Big Data, IoT and GIS have proved useful for improving the effectiveness of authorised agencies’ service provision. Social networks are also becoming effective means of communications between state agencies and people, according to the survey.
At the meeting, representatives from ministries and sectors said many data the UN used to calculate Vietnam’s e-Government indexes were not updated or provided. For example, the Human Capital Index included two new components: expected years of schooling for children and average years of schooling of adults, which Vietnam did not have available data.
In the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, many real statistics such as estimated internet users, number of fixed telephone lines, and number of mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants were actually higher than the data used by the survey.
Deputy PM Dam asked ministries to swiftly update relevant statistics and improve the provision of e-Government data for international organisations.
He also urged accelerating the provision of public services online, suggesting ministries learn from experience of countries with developed online services like France and Singapore.
The Deputy PM asked local authorities to work harder in applying online services and suggested them outsource IT services, adding that major IT enterprises should play a bigger role in developing an e-Government.
Source: VNA