Vietnam to benefit from e-government initiatives

The effective implementation of e-government at national and local levels can develop an economy’s competitiveness and enhance citizens’ confidence in the government.

It can also improve the state budget substantially and reduce opportunity costs; Vietnam’s national public service portal alone is expected to save over  4.2 trillion VND per year.

RMIT University (Vietnam) Head of Department, Management Dr Nguyen Quang Trung and Ho Chi Minh City Open University PhD candidate Tran Pham Khanh Toan discuss the key benefits to implementing e-government in Vietnam.

E-government and the business environment 

Recent reports published by the United Nations and the World Bank show that countries that utilise e-government tactics usually have a healthy business environment.

A good business environment generally attracts high-quality investors, which creates positive spill-over effects such as better technology transfers, modern management practices, and positive impacts on the environment. 

It’s for these reasons that e-government in Vietnam should be a priority. An improvement in e-government implementation would result in progress in other areas such as business corruption and transparency. 

Policymakers in Vietnam can learn from the successful e-government models of their Asian peers such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

Early and consistent efforts to develop e-government initiatives in these countries have contributed to improving their respective business environments. As a result, South Korea and Singapore have dominated the top rankings of business environment.

Similarly, at the local level, effective e-government implementation is believed to heighten provincial competitiveness.

Keys to implementing e-government

The Vietnamese Government’s efforts to build and implement e-government initiatives have been positively recognised by experts and citizens in recent years.

In August 2018, the Government set up a National Committee on E-Government, and in March 2019 Resolution No. 17/NQ-CP was issued to cover key tasks and solutions for e-government development in 2019-20, with a view to 2025.

Major recent projects also include the E-Cabinet launched in June 2019 and the national online public service portal introduced in December last year. 

However, in order to create competitive advantages and improve Vietnam’s business environment, governments at all levels must make committed and consistent efforts, including more resources for e-government development.

Lessons from other countries show that the common success factors for e-government are governance capacity, ICT infrastructure and human resources, and socio-economic attributes.

The unfulfilled efforts of e-government initiatives in the 2000s may have discouraged many leaders today, but in order for Vietnam to achieve prosperity, creativity and equity (as specified in the  Vietnam 2035 Report), implementing e-government is an important task that requires strong focus, particularly now that rapid solutions are needed to stimulate economic development due to the current pandemic.

In this context, the successful development of e-government should be seen as a key priority, as it will spur quick improvements in other areas, saving resources for society and increasing the overall competitiveness of the economy.

A version of this article was first published in  Vietnam Investment Review.

Story: Dr Nguyen Quang Trung and Tran Pham Khanh Toan