At the forum, I moderated three panel discussions at the forum, through the diligent (and excellent) work of our interpreters who sat in the black boxes at the back. Language did not become a barrier – I was deeply impressed by the officials’ professionalism, and their down-to-earth to tackling challenges and sharing with their peers.
To set the stage, Dr Nguyen Minh Hong, Vice Minister from the Ministry of Information and Communications, shared the country’s vision to become a leading country in e-government by 2020. Concrete plans have been made to achieve this strategic objective, including policies, procedures and a number of national databases being built. Dr Hong reminded the attending officials about a few new policies/services to be rolled out, which government departments are required to adhere to. An example of those is the digital certificate for online transactions, mandated in a recent government circular.
According to the Ministry, two of the most common cyber-attacks include defacement, which changes the interface of a site, and denial-of-service attacks, which prevents users from accessing computer sources.
The Ministry called on agencies to regularly run virus scans, use firewalls, change network administration usernames and passwords to secure their respective systems.
Hong said that the information and technology (IT) application has helped people from remote areas access public services, improving quality and sharply reducing service costs.
"Viet Nam needs to improve the effectiveness of its public services via cloud computing technology for purposes of the national safety development, mobilising people in administrative reform," he told a forum on e-government last week.
Deputy PM Nhan made his remark at a working visit to the VGP in Hanoi on June 21, on the occasion of Vietnam’s Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2011).
Nhan commended VGP’s constant renewal in content and design, saying it deserves to be the bridge between the Government and people.
Read more: VN: Deputy Prime Minister highlights Gov’t web portal benefits
This was confirmed by representatives from DOC at a reception for Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop during his visit to the US from June 9-14.
The visit aimed to promote Vietnam’s development potential in IT and Communication field, promote bilateral trade in ICT between the two countries, especially in training human resources and creating favourable conditions for IT companies to access the market and seek partners in the US.