Hanoi (VNA) – The Government Office ofVietnam and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) on cooperation in e-government development in Hanoi on May 30.

Attended the signing ceremony were PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary.

The MoU aims to build bilateral cooperativerelations between the Government Office and the AFD in implementinge-government in Vietnam, thereby supporting the Government’s digitalisation,administrative modernisation, and reform process.

It is the continuation of another MoU signedbetween the Vietnam Government Office and the French Ministry for the Economyand Finance.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the MoUaims to concretise the cooperation agreement between the two governments afterthe visit to Vietnam by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in November lastyear.

Accordingly, the two sides agreed to boostbilateral cooperation in the development of e-government and modernisation of stateadministrative management.

PM Phuc said according to the UN evaluation,France is one of the leading countries in e-government adoption, so it has aplenty of experience to share with Vietnam, especially as the VietnameseGovernment is defining the building of e-government as an important strategy toserve its people.

He asked the French Embassy in Vietnam andrelevant agencies of the Vietnamese Government to support necessary issues toimplement the agreement effectively.

Lortholary said Vietnam and France havecooperated effectively in numerous fields over the past time, including thebuilding of e-government.

The important thing is to provide services forpeople in an effective, convenient, and safe manner, he said.

In recent times, France has sent many experts toVietnam to help with the building of e-government in the Southeast Asiancountry, he added.

According to the MoU, the Vietnam GovernmentOffice and the AFD will cooperate in such prioritised fields as buildingintegrated solutions and data sharing between government agencies and dataprotection; a national portal for public services; and solutions to identifyindividuals and businesses.

In the long run, the two sides could partner in otherspheres of mutual concern, such as support to change the information system,building an IT infrastructure system, ensuring cyber information safety, and buildingdigital government and open data.–VNA