Viet Nam is now ready for the implementation of digital Government and open data, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, Mai Tien Dung, affirmed at a January 16 workshop launching the evaluation of the level of readiness on open data and digital Government in Viet Nam.

Dung emphasized that the Vietnamese Government is determined to build a facilitative Government of action and integrity, in the spirit of transparentization and publicization. Following this spirit, the Government has identified 2016 as the year for finalization of institutions, while 2017 is chosen as the year to reduce official and unofficial costs for businesses.
The Government has devised channels to have dialogue with the people and enterprises, aiming to ensure publicity and transparency, he said, adding that Viet Nam has recently reduced and abolished over 5,000 administrative procedures and many other formalities which are said to hinder growth.

Dung hailed the development of digital Government and open data as an inevitable trend and the next step in building the e-Government, towards the fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), stating that the assessment of the level of readiness for the implementation of digital Government and open data in Viet Nam in the present time is quite appropriate.

He expressed his hopes that through the launching workshop as well as the assessment process, experts would help to point out institutional and technology gaps for Viet Nam, aiming towards building a facilitate State and supporting the improvement of administrative procedures and the reformation of public administration in the country.

According to Alla Morrison, a data scientist at the World Bank (WB), from next week, the WB’s international experts will work with the Government Office and relevant Vietnamese ministries in order to collect information on the reality and Viet Nam’s readiness level for open data and digital Government in a number of the Government’s operations.

The assessments will be conducted across the fields of leadership, policy/legal framework, institutional structure, Government data, the people’s demand/participation, the open data ecosystem, infrastructure, technology and human resources.

Source: VGP