Vietnam presses ahead with e-future

Vietnam presses ahead with e-future, Illustrative image (Photo: internet)

The Government Office last week launched another six public services on the national public service portal, raising the number of such services offered to society to 725.

These new online services are on notarisation, voluntary social insurance, extension of medical insurance cards for households, granting new driving licences, changing driving licences, and payment of fines for traffic violations, estimated to help the state to save about VND1.69 trillion ($73.47 million) per year.

For example, individuals and enterprises can access the portal to self-process their documents and certificates to have them notarised in a wink, with a digital signature and sharp accuracy on the notarised electric copies.

“This platform has been able to completely remove the situation that people and enterprises have to submit paper-based documents to authorised agencies,” said a representative from the Ministry of Justice. “Under the ministry’s statistics, in 2019, the number of notarised copies was more than 102 million. If only 30 per cent of this are processed online, we can save VND428.4 billion ($18.63 million) per year.”

In another case, regarding payment of fines of traffic violations online, Do Thanh Binh, vice head of the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Traffic Police, reported that last year, traffic police punished over 1.6 million violators. Each violation must be completed through three procedures in a complicated process.

“Also, if the payment of traffic violation is conducted online, it will be made transparent, while helping the state save money,” Binh said.

While launching the six new public services on the portal, Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung received hundreds of calls and messages from the public and enterprises, hailing the government’s efforts to help them process all administrative procedures online.

“There have been big strides in the government’s journey to build up an e-government,” Dung said.

The Government Office reported that the government has succeessfully developed and launched the national public service portal in late 2019, which “has recently been integrated with 18 ministries and central agencies, all 63 cities and provinces, 12 state-run groups, and corporations, and banks.”

As of June 28, over 178,000 accounts were registered at the portal, which was also accessed by over 46.3 million visitors. The portal also offered 10.5 million dossiers for search. Over 151,000 dossiers have been processed via the portal, including 889 from firms asking for support in seeking loans to pay salaries for employees.

“Since March, on average, each month sees more than 32,000 accounts registered and 7.7 million visitors at the portal,” Dung stated. “The quantity of online public services available on the portal has skyrocketed by 90 times against late 2019 and 4.5 times against March. Each day the portal receives more than 2,000 dossiers.”

Vietnam currently ranks 88th out of 193 nations in e-government development, a rank that can improve if the government knows how to tap into the potential of its internet usage, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

According to experts, with its potential, it is necessary for Vietnam now to build Industry 4.0 technology and related infrastructure, data security, and an e-government that will help increase efficiencies as well as foster the faster adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Last year the Vietnamese government also launched an electronic system used for the government’s cabinet meetings and work settlement. The system, known as e-Cabinet, is considered an important step for the government to create a new-look administration and hit its prime target of establishing an e-government.

The e-Cabinet helps the government reduce 30 per cent of meeting time compared to the previous meetings by late 2019. The e-Cabinet can save VND1.2 trillion ($52.17 million) per year in stationery, deliveries, and other expenses.

“The e-Cabinet will efficiently support the government in conducting its meetings as it embraces all necessary functions, such as updating, managing, and storing dossiers and documents, as well as managing the meetings’ processes – from participants, agenda, speeches, discussion, feedback, document amendments, and voting with digital signatures,” Dung said.