Hanoi (VNS/VNA)ඣ — Vietnam is constantly looking for new driving forcesfor growth and the country has leveraged opportunities fromdigital and e-commerce for economic growth, according to CIEMdirector Nguyen Thi Hong Minh.

The Central Institute forEconomic Management (CIEM) held a seminar titled 'Vietnam's digital economicdevelopment post-COVID-19: Some requirements and roadmaps for institutionalreform' in Hanoi on November 25. The world was witnessing rapidchanges from the fourth industrial revolution with breakthroughs in manyfields, including the digital wave of the manufacturing sector, said Minh. Recognising its importance,many countries had concretised their digital economic developmentpriorities, she added. The COVID-19 pandemic had madethe Vietnamese Government and the business community more interested in thedigital economy, noted the director. At the event, the CIEM’sDepartment General Economic Issues and Integration Studies released areport aimed at assessing policy priorities, implementation and therealities of digital economic development in Vietnam. At the same time, the reportidentified conditions and requirements for institutional reform for theinclusive development of the digital economy and proposed a roadmap for digitaleconomic development in Vietnam. The CIEM director proposedsolutions for the development of the digital economy, including ensuring asafe network security environment, completing competition policies, amendingtax laws to regulate digital-based activities, enhancing the effectiveness ofintellectual property protection, and regulating regulations related tothe labour market and social security in the digital context and infrastructure. Tran Minh Tuan, deputy directorof the National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy, saidthere should be open data policies, allowing public access to encourageanalysis, creation and development of applications from open data. In addition, the technologyapplied in smart city development needed to conform to international standardsand be compatible with other countries to be able to transfer data betweeneconomies in the context of global integration, added Tuan. “In addition to the normalregimes, participating in the labour market will ensure workers’ technologyskills improved, contributing to the success of building a digital economy inVietnam," said a representative of the CIEM’s Department General EconomicIssues and Integration Studies./.