Hanoi (VNA) – One of the highlights in the e-governmentbuilding of Vietnam in the last two years is the inauguration of the NationalPublic Service Portal on December 9, 2019, reported the Government Office at ameeting of the National Committee for E-Government on March 10.

According to the office, as of March 8, 2021, more than2,800 out of total nearly 6,800 public services had been provided through theportal at four administrative levels. The portal received over 116 millionvisits and more than 468,000 registered accounts.

More than 940,000 administrative documents were processedonline through the portal, while 67,000 e-payment transactions were made withtotal amount of 26.7 billion VND. The portal also received more than 10,000feedback.

The portal has helped save more than 8.1 trillion VND (351.53million USD) each year, along with over 1.2 trillion VND each year in paper and deliverycosts.

So far, the national reporting information system hasconnected to the systems of 14 ministries and agencies as well as 37 localities,helping save about 9.9 trillion VND each year in accordance to calculation ofthe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, asof 2020, the most important platforms for e-government development of Vietnam had beenformed and operated effectively.

Meanwhile, a number of database for e-government have beenbuilt, including the insurance database with information of 24 million familiesjoining health insurance and more than 90 million people covered by healthinsurance, along with those on businesses, finance, education, health care, andpopulation.

As of December 2020, nearly 40 “Make in Vietnam” platforms built by domestic businesseshad been introduced.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, whois Chairman of the National Committee for E-Government, noted that the UN placedVietnam at the 86th position among 193 countries in its e-governmentraking in 2020, up 2 places from 2018, which showed Vietnam’s progress inthe field. However, in Southeast Asia, Vietnam still ranked sixth,he added.

The PM said that regional countries’ rises in the e-governmentranking means their business environment and competitiveness are improving, creating fiercer competition with Vietnam in all fields, which is a great challenge forthe nation to tackle.

He said that with the issuance of Resolution No. 17/NQ-CP, Vietnam forthe first time has a master plan on e-government building, with the focus placed onbuilding institutions and shared platforms.

Reviewing a number of outstanding achievements of Vietnam inthe recent years, the PM said that along with socio-economic successes, the countryhas seen a bright spot in e-government building, especially in 2020.

Besides, he also pointed out a number of shortcomings in thefield, including the incomplete legal environment, and limited ratio of level-4online public services.

In the future, it is necessary to speed up the provision ofonline public services, and the effective implementation of the nationaldatabase on population, thus reducing papers in administrative procedure processing.

He assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to hasten the buildingprogress of the national database on land, which is expected to be launched inJuly.

The PM requested ministries, sectors and localities to effectively exploitpublic services provided online, while actively sharing their data to otherState agencies, and ensuring system safety.

The ministries, sectors and localities should complete the building andlaunching of strategies, programmes and plans in digital transformation for thenew period in line with the national digital transformation programme, hesaid, adding that they should maintain online operations like what was doneduring the social distancing period due to the COVID-19 pandemic./.