IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

At the first seminar of the Vietnam International Communications Summit (Vietnam Comm 2009) opened in Hanoi on November 19, Deputy Minister Thang said that Vietnam has developed a modern communications infrastructure capable of providing cutting-edge services.

In the report Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact, Vietnam ranks the highest in performance among 35 other developing countries in the same bracket.

The information was released at a seminar in Hanoi on May 27 on e-government communication infrastructure in the 21st century, which was co-organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) and the leading US information technology company (Cisco).

"This may be good news for us," says farmer Tran Van Tinh of Thuong Tin District, Ha Tay Province.

"When my village, Hien Giang, gets internet access, I’ll be able to get information the same way that anyone in France or the US who has access to the internet can," he says happily.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the request while attending the ministry’s meeting to deploy tasks for 2010 in Hanoi on January 15.

1 million workers in IT by 2020

It is expected that by 2020, Vietnam will have one million people working in the IT industry. 80 percent of students graduating in subjects related to IT will have the professional knowledge and foreign language skills good enough to join the international labour market.

From now to 2015, about 30 percent of students are estimated have such skills.

Dien Bien is one of the smaller provinces in Vietnam with a population of 519,300.

In 2014, the provincial government’s ICT team will be focusing on maintenance and upgrading of the current computer systems, installation of networks, web site development and IT training.

The invitation-only, East Africa Outsourcing Summit that will be held in Nairobi from 5th to 6th June 2012 will act as a stage for players in the out¬sourcing industries in East Africa to gain insight from the key outsourcing regions worldwide.

With global technology trends Kenya needs to develop as an outsourcing hub. This is a good strategy that will support the development of a stable industry.

University of Canterbury (UC) senior teacher education lecturer Wendy Fox-Turnbull says the knowledge age has arrived and New Zealand can no longer continue to rely on primary produce to boost its gross domestic product.

``ICT is an area of huge potential and one in which we can compete on the world stage, and it doesn’t rely on large supplies of natural resources.

The overall target of the plan emphasizes international standards for IT human resources and the key role played by the industry, especially software and digital content as well as services, in GDP growth and exports.

IT industry is expected to contribute around 8-10 per cent of the country’s GDP and its revenue growth to double or triple the GDP growth rate by 2020.

Talking on the sidelines of a seminar on "Building a Smarter City" held on November 22, Mr. Van Dong, director of the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications, said Hanoi's goal is to become the pioneer in the application and development of information technology.

The biggest event of the Vietnam information and communication industry this year attracted not only operators in this field, but also many officials and experts from other sectors. They came here to search for information, solutions and to get a better understanding of the ability to improve competitiveness for all sectors and all areas by information technology.

ICC permanent representative to the UN in New York, Louise Kantrow, recently joined members of the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT) and the ICC Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative to convey global business priorities at the 2009 Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) in Monterrey, Mexico.

West African countries still have a long way to go in bridging digital divide, despite efforts being made by some countries to close the digital gap. In West Africa, Nigeria inclusive, low infrastructure rollout and the over concentration of operating companies in urban areas, including policy regulation, have been identified as some of the factors impeding fast broadband penetration.

After previously despising the presidential debate as a high school “speaking competition”, Uganda’s incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni attended the second presidential debate of this year’s State House race on Saturday, along with the other seven presidential candidates.

The debate had been intended to focus mainly on “peace and security, foreign relations, East African integration, the Great Lakes region and terrorism,” according to a post on the State House website late Saturday.

Three obstacles to extending the reach of the Web — and thereby reducing poverty in developing countries — can be fixed.

One of the most effective ways to reduce poverty in developing countries is to extend the reach of the Internet. Over the last 20 years, the online world has created millions of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity. Entire new sectors have emerged, such as e-commerce, social media, and data analytics. In developing countries, the Internet is even more powerful than it is elsewhere. It can connect people who have known only subsistence to the modern economy, and provide them with opportunities for social and economic advancement. Yet most people in developing countries, some 56 percent of the world’s population, still do not use the Internet.

"The European Union’s Digital Agenda – one of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy – firmly recognises the revolutionary potential that information and communication technology (ICT) offers to boost growth, increase productivity and improve the welfare of citizens and consumers.

The evidence that supports greater use of ICT and advances in the Digital Single Market are convincing: even in times of recession and sluggish growth prospects, the Internet contributed on average 3.8% to the EU’s gross domestic product in 2010 and it is forecasted to grow exponentially in coming years. In the leading Internet economies, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, the Internet accounted for as much as 7.2%, 6.6%, 5.8% and 4.3% of GDP in 2009, respectively.

The initiative was set up in Pretoria last month and is being led by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR's) Meraka Institute.

Project leader Chris Morris believes wireless technology is a solution to connect remote communities on the world's least wired continent. “Why should rural, poor and remote areas in Africa be denied access to the information society through lack of infrastructure, or because of exorbitantly high telecommunications costs?” he asks.

The New South Wales budget for the 2013-14 financial year shows a strong ICT focus compared to other states in Australia, according to the Australian Computer Society. The NSW government released the budget today.

“ACS is pleased that the NSW government has recognised the importance of ICT to the NSW economy,” said Adam Redman, ACS head of policy and external affairs.

The aim would be to ensure transparency in decision-making, enable service delivery and dilute corruption.