Hanoi (VNA) - Contactless payments are becoming increasinglypopular in Vietnam as people can easily see QR codes atvegetable and meat stalls in local markets or at restaurants and electronicsstores.

Vietnam has set a target of provide practical benefits to the public through advantagesbrought by digital transformation. Gradually shifting from traditional methodsto the digital environment ensures that every citizen has equal opportunitiesto access services, education, and knowledge.

During the action month in response to National Digital Transformation Day (October10) this year, community-based digital technology teams continue their efforts to guideevery person to acquire skills for using online services, online shopping and payments,and self-protection against risks and dangers in the digital environment.

People across the country have been benefiting from preferential policies whenusing digital products and services through the initiative, which has so far attractedthe engagement of more than 50 businesses from nine different sectors.

Notably, many discount programmes have been launched by businesses in responseto National Digital Transformation Day before October 2023, and some of these willextend beyond this month.

Themed “Exploiting digital data to create value”, this year’sNational Digital Transformation Day aims to accelerate the implementation of thenational digital transformation as well as the National Digital TransformationProgramme to 2025, with a vision to 2030.

It is also to raise public awareness of the role, significance and benefits ofdigital transformation, and promote the involvement of the entire politicalsystem and population so as to ensure the success of the work.

According to Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, it isnecessary to rapidly disseminate basic knowledge related to digital transformationthrough shared digital platforms nationwide, and develop new things via leadingentities.

Digital transformation is a comprehensive and all-encompassing process thatinvolves the entire population, so it must be widely accessible, he stressed.

The National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025, with a vision towards2030 approved by the Prime Minister in June 2020 targets dual goals of developinga digital government, digital economy, and digital society; and forming Vietnamesedigital technology enterprises with the capacity to reach globally.

In the first nine months of 2023, the National Public Service Portal recorded 5.6million registered accounts, over 87.37 million synchronized profiles, morethan 13 million utility service transactions, over 19.8 million applications processed through the portal, and more than 13 million online paymenttransactions with a total value of over 4 trillion VND.

Regarding digital data, about 1.4 million transactions were conductedsuccessfully via the Integrated Data SharingPlatform every day.

Population databases have been officially connected to 15 ministries and agencies, one state-owned enterprise, three telecommunications enterprises,and 63 localities for the purpose of information exploitation. Data related to publicservants have been connected to and synchronized with 100% of ministries,departments, and local authorities.

In terms of digital infrastructure, the proportion of subscribers usingsmartphones reached 79.8% in the last nine months, a year-on-year increase of5.8%. The percentage of households with broadband fiber optic internet connection hit 78.38%, up 5.22% year-on-year./.