Create practical results, bringing value to people

On March 11, Party Central Committee member, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung chaired the State management conference for the first quarter of 2024 with the Departments of Information and Communications.

Conducted through direct and online methods with 67 connecting points, the Conference was also attended by Deputy Ministers of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long, Nguyen Huy Dung, Nguyen Thanh Lam, Bui Hoang Phuong and representatives of IT agencies of ministries and branches.

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The first quarter state management conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications with the Departments of Information and Communications took place in a combination of direct and online methods. Photo: Le Anh Dung

To unify awareness, some new ideas and orientations in 2024 of Minister Nguyen Manh Hung have been disseminated to all Departments of Information and Communications and leaders of IT agencies of ministries and branches. In addition to the viewpoints on job selection and responsibilities of the head, the content of each content in the motto and slogan of action in 2024: "Broader - More comprehensive - Faster - Better quality - More practical" are all thoroughly explained.

Emphasizing the importance of the task of contributing and preparing the content of the documents of the 14th National Party Congress, the Minister pointed out that this is a guiding policy issue, and at the same time requested that units within the Ministry of Information and Communications as well as leaders of the Departments of Information and Communications, IT agencies of ministries and branches pay special attention to proposing to include the major viewpoints and ideas of the industry in the documents.

Directors of the Departments of Information and Communications and specialized IT agencies of ministries and sectors are also requested to consider the establishment of institutions for the information and communications sector as their important work. When taking the lead in establishing institutions, units of the Ministry of Information and Communications must invite the Department of Information and Communications and specialized IT units to participate. “Without the voice of grassroots units, institutions cannot enter life. By participating in the establishment of institutions, local human resources will also improve,” the Minister analyzed.

Clip informing some new guiding viewpoints and ideas of Minister Nguyen Manh Hung. Video source: Office of the Ministry of Information and Communications

The Minister also pointed out that this year, the Ministry of Information and Communications has focused on creating practical results, bringing value to people, businesses, organizations and officials, employees and workers. One thing that the Ministry of Information and Communications is focusing on is developing virtual assistants. In addition to the four national virtual assistants, ministries, branches and localities also need to have their own assistants to help officials and employees.

"To create practical results, providing guidance for localities to be able to do it will be the "key" of the Ministry. Leaders of units under the Ministry must be aware of this," the Minister requested.

Responding to local problems "on the spot"

The method of exchanging and directly responding to local recommendations continued to be maintained at this Conference. The leaders of the Ministry and specialized units spent a lot of time answering 'to the point' the difficulties and recommendations of the Departments of Information and Communications of the provinces and cities: Lam Dong, Thai Binh, Hanoi, Lai Chau, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Ba Ria - Vung Tau...

For example, with the proposal that the Ministry provide local guidance in developing and implementing the National Data Development Strategy and Information and Communications Infrastructure Planning, the Minister directed the Institute of Information and Communications Strategy to complete these guidelines by April 15. Regarding the proposal to coordinate with the Ministry of Construction to soon issue a set of criteria for building district-level smart cities, the Ministry of Information and Communications clearly explained to the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Tri that there will be no set of district-level smart city criteria; however, in addition to the set of provincial-level smart city criteria to be issued by the Ministry of Construction in April 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications is developing guidelines for digital transformation at the commune and district levels. The Minister requested the National Digital Transformation Department to complete the guidelines for digital transformation at the commune and district levels in the second quarter of 2024.

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The implementation of the Information and Communications Infrastructure Planning until 2030 is a content that local information and communications departments hope the Ministry of Information and Communications will soon provide guidance on. Photo: Provided by Viettel

At the conference, representatives of several Departments of Information and Communications shared their experiences in developing the Information and Communications industry in their localities. For Ho Chi Minh City, after many years of organization, this locality has made the book street festival a bright spot in the country in developing a reading culture. According to Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City Lam Dinh Thang, the city's book street festival is increasingly developing in both breadth and depth. In 2024, the festival attracted nearly 1 million visitors to buy books, with revenue reaching over 10 billion VND in just 8 days of organization.

Before Mr. Lam Dinh Thang's sharing, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung noted that the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution needs to soon launch a set of indicators to measure the development of reading culture, in order to have measures to promote effective implementation.

For Lao Cai, this is the leading locality in ordering public career services using the State budget. From the experience of the past 5 years, Mr. Vu Hung Dung, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Lao Cai proposed the method and process of ordering to remove bottlenecks in institutions, human resources and finance. According to him, the governing body has thus eliminated the mechanism of asking for and giving, streamlined the payroll, and ensured effective use of the budget. Meanwhile, for career units, the quality of products and income of workers have been significantly improved.

From the practical story of Lao Cai, the Minister directed the Ministry's specialized units to soon conduct a survey on the difficulties in ordering public career services using the budget, in order to have measures to resolve them.

Changing perceptions about goal setting

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed: There is a way that is recognized by the whole world when doing new things, which is to pilot on a small scale, but do it thoroughly, do it until the final result and then guide for replication. Therefore, in each field, besides guiding for clear things, units need to continue to pilot new things according to the motto: do it thoroughly, do it until the final result.

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Minister Nguyen Manh Hung especially emphasized the importance of guiding localities in implementing the work of ministries and branches. Photo: Le Anh Dung

The change in target setting is a new awareness that Minister Nguyen Manh Hung wants units to understand and implement. Specifically, instead of just setting general targets for the whole industry, from 2024, general targets must be detailed into targets for each ministry, industry, and locality. This detailing needs to be done in both ways, assigning targets from top to bottom and registering from bottom to top.

Particularly emphasizing the importance of local guidance, the Minister directed: All plans, strategies, decrees, decisions... developed by the Ministry of Information and Communications must have "hand-holding" guidance. This is to ensure effective implementation at the grassroots level, and not turn industry strategies into "drawer strategies".

The Minister requested that in March, units of the Ministry of Information and Communications must have specific instructions for the following contents: Instructions on perfecting the apparatus and improving management capacity and law enforcement on digital transformation from the central to local levels; Instructions on organizing specialized conferences on digital economy; Instructions on increasing the rate of records processed online and remotely; Instructions on communicating provincial-level policies...

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung also noted that specialized IT units at the ministerial level must advise their Ministers to organize specialized conferences on digital economic development in 2024 under the direction of the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Information and Communications will make a master plan for the specialized conferences. "This will be a very meaningful activity to help raise awareness about digital transformation and digital economic development," the Minister commented.

From the experience of the Ministry in rotating and seconding cadres, the Minister suggested that the leaders of the departments realize that rotating cadres is a good thing and consider rotating cadres not only within their own department, but also with other departments. In addition to regular tasks, the Departments of Information and Communications are also asked to focus on improving the quality of online public services, in the spirit of efficiency and substance.

Accompanying localities and businesses to resolve difficulties in the field of information and communication technology. Through direct exchanges and questions, leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications continue to work with leaders of Departments of Information and Communication and businesses to remove and find ways to thoroughly resolve many difficulties and obstacles in the field of information and communication technology.