Vietnam aims to become a digital nation by 2030

Trong Kh oi

The Prime Minister’s Decision No.749/QD-TTg approving the “National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025 with a vision to 2030”, aiming to realise the dual goals of forming a digital government, a digital economy, and a digital society, while establishing digital businesses that have a global competitive capacity.

Most notably, the digital economy is projected to make up some 20 percent of the country’s GDP in the future, with the proportion of the digital economy in each economic sector reaching at least 10 percent, whilst annual labour productivity will likely increase by at least 7 percent.

In addition to this economic transformation, Vietnam is set to be among the top 50 countries in terms of the information and communication

technology development index (IDI) within the next five years, among the top 50 countries in terms of the global competitiveness index (GCI), and in the top 35 countries in terms of the global innovation index (GII).

To develop a digital society, the digital gap must be narrowed, with the schedule for change ahead to 2025 outlining that the fibre optic network infrastructure will reach out to more than 80 percent of households and 100 percent of communes nationwide.

By 2025, 80 percent of online administrative procedures should be available on smart phones and other devices. A national database which makes up the foundation of e-government, including Population, Land, Business Registration, Finance, and Insurance, will be completed and accessible from localities across Vietnam. A database of public agencies will be created, allowing each Vietnamese citizen or company to fill out registration forms just once for all services.

In the report "Vietnam's future digital economy towards 2030 and 2045" published by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia, the trends affecting the development in Vietnam’s digital economy have also analyzed and presented.

According to the report, the next wave of digital technologies – artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and platforms and cloudbased services – has the potential to transform Vietnam into Asia’s next high-performing economy, and to bring up the living standards of all of Vietnam’s citizens over the coming decades.

E-commerce is one of the fastestgrowing segments of Vietnam’s digital economy. According to the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA), the nation’s e-commerce market is growing by 35 percent per year – 2.5 times faster, for example, than Japan. Vietnam’s online retail revenue reached USD6.2 billion in 2017, over double that of 2014. By 2020, VECITA predicts the number of online shoppers will increase by 52 percent, while the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM) predicts online revenue will reach USD10 billion.