At the ASOCIO Digital Summit held in Seoul, South Korea recently, Ho Chi Minh City was awarded the ASOCIO 2023 Award for Outstanding Digital Government by the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO). Speaking with SGGP Newspaper, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City Lam Dinh Thang said that the city's efforts are aimed at understanding people better, thereby providing digital services and taking better care of people.
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Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications Lam Dinh Thang |
More convenient access to public services
* REPORTER: What is the significance of the Excellent Digital Government Award for Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general in the current context, sir?
- Mr. LAM DINH THANG: Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in the country, one of the fastest growing cities in Southeast Asia with a high population density and strong urbanization. The construction of digital government plays an important role, helping the city innovate its operating methods, optimize state management efficiency and facilitate people and businesses to access public services conveniently. The Excellent Digital Government Award is a recognition of the continuous efforts of the government system, civil servants, public employees and people of Ho Chi Minh City in accompanying the implementation of the City's Digital Transformation Program.
The award is also a strong motivation for Ho Chi Minh City to continue to innovate, develop, and apply digital solutions in city management and service provision for the people. In particular, it enhances the reputation of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam in administrative reform, creating favorable conditions for attracting foreign investment and international cooperation.
* Could you share more about the specific efforts and solutions that the city has implemented to help achieve the above award?
- Ho Chi Minh City is the first locality to issue the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Program. The city also focuses on investing and making efforts to build digital infrastructure, including telecommunications infrastructure, information technology (IT), and data. Up to now, the city has had a modern digital infrastructure, meeting the development needs of digital government. Ho Chi Minh City also promotes the application of IT in government activities, focusing on improving the efficiency and quality of public services for the people. In the field of public service provision, the city strives to implement many solutions to improve service quality, bringing satisfaction to the people and businesses. For example, Ho Chi Minh City has put the entire administrative procedure process into the digital environment, connecting administrative agencies and promoting online public services in all fields to help reduce time and costs of using services. Along with that is changing the method of receiving and handling people's petitions effectively by connecting over 700 units; Provide a single portal, app and 1022 switchboard for people.
The city also enhances the exploitation and effective use of data, applying artificial intelligence to help the city's administration work faster, and make more effective decisions. At the same time, promoting propaganda and raising awareness of digital transformation for officials, civil servants, public employees, people and businesses, has created consensus and support from society for the city's digital transformation. From the results of the award, the Department of Information and Communications continues to take advantage of and promote in the coming time, including deploying the Portal to receive and answer information for people, businesses and organizations in Ho Chi Minh City (portal 1022) in all areas related to the city's cultural and social life effectively.
“HCMC is one of the first units in the country to change the way of working and interacting with people through social media columns. All opinions and emotions of people every day in the digital environment are recorded by the city quickly and promptly to have better management solutions. With a new and timely approach, it has created transparency, increased trust and consensus of people in the city government.”
Director of Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City LAM DINH THANG
Support people and businesses in digital transformation
* So what solutions does Ho Chi Minh City have to innovate the way of providing public services and utilities to people and businesses, to soon achieve the goal of building Ho Chi Minh City into a smart city?
- Ho Chi Minh City will continue to promote the deployment and completion of interconnected digital platforms, applying artificial intelligence and big data to improve the quality of public administrative procedures (TTHC) and other public services in the fields of urban management, culture, society, etc. In parallel with completing the goals of digital government, Ho Chi Minh City will promote the digital economy and digital society to increase flexibility, efficiency and connectivity in all areas of life, from businesses to education, health, and politics, creating a more effective digital environment for the community. At the same time, deploy policies and solutions to support people and businesses in digital transformation in the application of digital technology, helping the poor and disadvantaged so that no one is left behind in participating in the city's digital transformation journey.
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| Ho Chi Minh City honored at ASOCIO Digital Summit with the Outstanding Digital Government Award |
* The completion of the legal environment serving the process of building digital government is still not keeping up with social needs, especially in new fields. How will Ho Chi Minh City overcome this?
- It is true that the process of building digital government in Ho Chi Minh City still has many major obstacles. That is, the legal corridor in the implementation of information technology (IT) applications is not complete. The national database is still in the process of completing sharing. The sharing and opening of data of state agencies and enterprises is being implemented, but has not yet brought about the desired results. Meanwhile, the protection of personal data, private information on the Internet and the propaganda and guidance of organizations and individuals to exploit and use online public services are still limited and not very effective. People and businesses are still hesitant and do not trust the settlement of administrative procedures on the Internet environment... Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City has proposed to the Government; proposed and proactively coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to deploy IT applications, share data from the Central to local levels; the management, provision and use of internet services and information on the Internet to protect personal data and private information; advertising on the internet... This is to gradually remove and solve difficulties to meet the requirements of digital transformation implementation and smart urban construction.
* Human resource quality is also a big issue. How will Ho Chi Minh City solve it to serve the construction of a digital government that meets practical requirements, sir?
- To solve the problem of human resources for building digital government, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented many synchronous solutions. In particular, the city organizes training and fostering to improve the professional qualifications and skills of officials and civil servants in knowledge of digital government, digital transformation; skills in using software, IT applications; communication skills, and behavior with people and businesses in the digital environment. Ho Chi Minh City also focuses on attracting and promoting talents, especially talents in the field of IT; building a culture of innovation, creativity, and application of IT in management and operation; building a professional, dynamic, and creative working environment, encouraging officials, civil servants, and public employees to innovate, be creative, and apply IT in their work.
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