Vietnam strives to foster the development of digital businesses

Technology enterprises are one of the decisive forces for Vietnam's rapid progress, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed, referring to the role of Vietnam's digital technology industry in contributing to turning Vietnam into an industrial country by 2045.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam speaks at the event. Photos: Phi Nhat

At a national forum on the development of Vietnamese digital enterprises held on December 8 in Hanoi, the Deputy Prime Minister discussed the advantages and constraints of the technology industry, raising three main issues that need to be addressed, including institutional change, removing obstacles in technology-related circulars and decrees.

He also called on digital technology companies to create new things.

"If we continue to develop industry, agriculture, and services while leaving behind new global spearheads, including information technology, we will not be able to achieve the 7% annual growth target," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Another issue is to change the method of training IT human resources to reach the target of one million IT workers. According to the Deputy PM, Vietnam's digital technology force still lacks teachers and workers.

He added that the number of tertiary-level students in Vietnam is still two to three times lower than in Thailand, South Korea, and Australia.

"At present, Vietnam has 65,000 digital enterprises. There are large enterprises such as FPT, CMC, and MISA with more than 20 years of operation, in addition to other newcomers making many breakthroughs," the Deputy PM said.

"Vietnamese enterprises need to team up with a leader, uniting to go abroad in a spirit of confidence to achieve success," he suggested.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long

At the event, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long said that the Ministry of Information and Communications would perfect the institution of the industry under the direction of the Deputy Prime Minister. The ministry continues to accompany the Ministry of Education and Training in developing human resources and applying digital technology to training.

"On behalf of the business community, we are committed to focusing our efforts on developing and implementing the national digital transformation,” he emphasized.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, digital technology will continue to be a bright spot in 2022, with an estimated revenue of US$148 billion. Exports in the field would amount to $136 billion.

This year’s forum attracted hundreds of tech businesses who contributed ideas and proposed initiatives to foster the development of the digital technology industry in the future.

Hoang Tuan Hai, Chairman and General Director of VMO Holding Technology JSC, raised two issues, including improving the capacity of training high-quality digital human resources, applying the model combining schools and businesses, and building Vietnamese tech hubs in foreign tech markets.

“Local businesses need to proactively deal with limitations such as foreign language proficiency, critical thinking, and issues related to overseas offices and investment," he said.

Delegates attend the forum.

To encourage the development of digital enterprises, Le Minh Ha of Viettel Business Solutions Corporation proposed two solutions, including that the government should have policies to create a domestic market for high-tech products and promote high-tech industrial research and production.

“The Ministry of Information and Communications needs to strengthen the promotion and international cooperation programs so that local businesses have more opportunities to access foreign markets,” he said.

Within the forum framework, an award ceremony honoring excellent ‘Make-in-Vietnam’ technology products in 2022 and an exhibition on such products were held simultaneously.

The annual forum is the fourth event of the digital technology community in Vietnam.

With the theme ‘Sustainable Development and Increase of the Nation’s Role in the Global Value Chain’, the event took place offline in Hanoi and online in Japan and Singapore on the same day.

The previous forum was themed “Digital transformation - Driving force for economic recovery and development,” drawing about 1,000 delegates from ministries, agencies, experts, and businesses.

An overview of the event.