Editorial: Speaking at the opening session of the National Committee on Digital Transformation on June 5, 2023, Vice Chairman of the Committee, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized: Now is the time to fundamentally change the way of doing e- Government , the way of providing online public services, fundamentally change awareness and approach. Below, VietNamNet respectfully introduces the full text of the speech.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung.
Dear comrades of the Steering Committee for Digital Transformation of central and local ministries and branches, Dear comrades of the leaders of specialized units on IT, digital transformation of central and local ministries and branches, Departments of Information and Communications, representatives of associations, unions, digital technology enterprises, Dear comrades and friends, First of all, on behalf of the Ministry of Information and Communications, I warmly welcome you to the Special Session of the National Committee on Digital Transformation. The Prime Minister has requested the Ministry of Information and Communications, as the Standing Agency and Vice Chairman of the National Committee on Digital Transformation, to organize monthly special sessions to strongly promote national digital transformation. The theme of this first Session is on fundamental changes in the provision of online public services. Online public services (DVCTT) are the focus of e-Government (CPĐT). Online public services is not a strange topic, it is something we have been doing for quite a long time, more precisely over the past 20 years. The first 10 years, from 2000 - 2010, were the first steps in applying IT in the work of State agencies, the first steps in online public services.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung chaired a special meeting of the Committee on online public services. (Photo: Hoang Ha)
The next 10 years, from 2011 to 2020, will be the official implementation of public services. The most important milestone is that the Government issued Decree No. 43, dated June 13, 2011, regulating the provision of information and public services. For the first time, the Government has a Decree specifically on public services. The rate of level 4 public services nationwide in 2011 was 0.01%. By the end of 2019, 100% of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities had public service portals and electronic one-stop systems at the ministerial and provincial levels. However, the rate of level 4 public services nationwide by the end of 2019, after 10 years, only reached 10%. This is the stage of applying IT to implement e-Government. The next 3 years, from 2020 - 2022, will see breakthrough developments due to the use of digital technology (CNS), digital transformation (CĐS) approaches to make e-Government. Its characteristic is the use of digital platforms. After nearly 3 years, the rate of level 4 public services increased from 10% to 97%.
We focus on bringing things online but have not paid attention to simplifying administrative procedures in the digital environment, have not paid attention to convenience for people, that is, the quality of public services and people's satisfaction. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung
But after more than 20 years of providing public services, we need to review the way we are doing things to make fundamental changes. We still accept people bringing paper documents to the electronic one-stop shop, receiving paper documents, digitizing them and then processing them electronically, and sometimes people come to the place to pay money to get the results. We care about the number of public services posted online, but we do not care about whether people use them or not, that is, the rate of documents processed online. We focus on posting them online but we do not pay attention to simplifying administrative procedures in the digital environment, we do not pay attention to convenience for people, that is, the quality of public services, people's satisfaction. We do things without standards for public service portals, without assessment and publication of the quality of public service portals. We have implemented e-Government but reports on public services from local to central levels are still paper reports, not connected and not reported online. All of these are characteristics of the IT application era. Now is the time to fundamentally change the way of doing e-Government, the way of providing public services, fundamentally change awareness and approach.
Without the electronic one-stop shop, Vietnam's public service delivery system would not have achieved the success it has today, but for Vietnam's public service delivery system to continue and quickly reach the final result, it is very likely that its activities will have to be gradually reduced. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung
In June 2022, the Government issued Decree No. 42 on the provision of public services to replace Decree 43 of 2011 to move towards full-process public services. Full-process means that when people use public services, they do it themselves and no longer have to go to state agencies. If we look at public services in the old way, according to the old Decree 43, we have brought 71% of public services online (the remaining 29% are public services with almost no users), the rate of files processed online is over 90%. If we look at public services in the full-process way, according to the new Decree 42, the rate of public services put online in the full process is only 44%, the rate of files processed online in the full process is only 35%. That is, according to the new definition, the figures are reduced quite a bit, but we will use these real figures to move forward sustainably.
Opening of the Special Session of the National Committee on Digital Transformation on June 5, 2023.
We only have 2.5 years left until the end of 2025. During this time, the rate of files processed online must increase from 35% to over 90% and the electronic one-stop shop at ministries, branches and localities will gradually reduce. People using public services must really find it more convenient and faster.
High goals lead to new breakthroughs and therefore easier to achieve. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung
Without the electronic one-stop shop, Vietnam's public service delivery system would not have achieved the success it has today, but for Vietnam's public service delivery system to continue and quickly reach the final result, it is very likely that its activities will have to be gradually reduced. Today's meeting is to discuss new approaches, new breakthrough methods to create fundamental changes in Vietnam's public service delivery system. Only with high goals can breakthrough methods be created. Breakthrough methods are not difficult or costly, but are often easy methods that do not require much effort or money but achieve very high goals in a short time. We often think that setting low goals is easy to do. But in many cases, high goals are easier to do. If the goal is the same every year, the method will be the same every year, everything will be the same every year, but one thing that is not the same every year is the interest. With the same resources but reduced interest, the same results will be very difficult. Aiming high will lead to new and innovative ways of doing things, and therefore, it will be easier to do. The innovative way is usually a statement instead of a long report. Statements can be just one sentence, because we are all in the profession, there is no need to explain much. I hope we can discuss new ways to solve the problem of public services in Vietnam before 2025.
A breakthrough approach is often a sentence rather than a long report. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung
Delegates are requested to discuss the following contents: new ways of doing public services; goals; standards for public service portals; simplification of administrative procedures in the digital environment; construction of public service portals; provision of public services on mobile devices; ensuring mobile connectivity; ensuring information security; data sharing connections; rapidly increasing the rate of files processed online; the role of electronic one-stop shops, community digital technology teams; measuring and reporting public service data; investment prices, and service rental. In that spirit, I would like to declare today's Session open. Wish the Session a success! A successful meeting means finding a breakthrough solution for the goal of completing Vietnam's public services before 2025. Sincerely thank you! Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung