The event, chaired by Minister, Chairman of the Vietnamese Government Office Mai Tien Dung and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Takio Yamada, virtually brought together experts from Japan and 23 cities and provinces in Vietnam.
Addressing the seminar, Dung said it is the third event of this kind and forms part of Japan’s activities to support Vietnam in building e-Government. He said in the context of social distancing measures put in place to stem the spread of the COVID-19, the use of information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), and digital technologies is crucial to sustaining a normal functioning of the Vietnamese economy.
Vietnam has developed and operated a number of the e-Government’s key information and database systems which have not only promoted a new way of working at governmental units but also facilitated the delivery of online public services to businesses and people, he said.
These systems have allowed society to save up to about 9.8 trillion VND, or 426 million USD, in expenditure annually, the minister unveiled.
He further said that such success would not be possible without the help of the Government of Japan through the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, Japan’s Cabinet Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The e-Government development must ensure a close connection between IT application, public administrative reforms and improvement in transparency and publicity, he noted, adding that the satisfaction of people and businesses is among key factors to measure the e-Government building.
Ambassador Yamada, for his part, highlighted the significance of e-Government and digital Government at the time of COVID-19, saying the use of digital technologies at many administrative bodies in Vietnam enables the delivery of a variety of online public services with added values and no direct contact.
He said he is impressed by the Government of Vietnam’s proactive response to the pandemic with the quick rollout of a contact-tracing app NCOVI.
E-Government is also one of the top priorities of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the diplomat stated, adding that the Japanese government will continue adopting more cooperation programmes to assist Vietnam’s reforms in the coming time.
During the seminar, specialists from Japan discussed Suga’s new policies in developing digital Government and shared experience in digitalizing public services as well as formulating policies for the application of AI.
Source: VNA