In an echo of the UK's emphasis on using IT to redesign public services, they are calling for a greater emphasis on social and economic issues rather than just improving administration. Trinh Duc Huy from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was quoted by the Vietnam Economy journal on 17 December 2003.
"e-Government is a policy of the Communist Party and forms a small part of state modernisation," he said. "It does not cover all social and economic issues."
Huy warned that the state administration programme 112, which dates back to the late 1990s, does not relate its e-government elements to wider issues, and that this is undermining its chances for success.
Pham Van Hoan, head of the 112 programme in Hai Duong province, said the province had faced difficulties in implementing the programme for the past seven years.
"In the late 1990s, after the IT steering committee and the Ministry of Post and Telematics were set up, they had control over the programme in provinces," he said. "This has caused confusion ever since among local authorities about their respective roles in the programme."
He added that both Communist Party and state agencies had invested in local area networks, and that this had added to the confusion.
Quelle: Kablenet, 18.12.2003
