Vietnam, U.S. Seek to Boost ICT Cooperation

The Vietnamese Ministry of Information joined hands with the U.S. Department of Commerce to hold a conference to promote the two-country cooperation in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, state media reported.

 

Vietnam needs more efforts to improve its communication network capacity despite its a high growth rate in ICT for the last several years, said the ministry’s Deputy Minister Vu Duc Dam at the meeting, adding that the country should call for more foreign investments in its ICT sector, particularly from the U.S.

 

While Jamie Estrada, Deputy Assistant for Manufacturing at the U.S. Department of Commerce expressed his strong belief for a very bright Vietnam-U.S. ICT trade.

 

He, however, stressed Vietnam’s difficulties in the ICT sector including low infrastructure development, poor network security, inadequate IT skills and training and low consumer confidences in e-commerce.

 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. earned US$42.9 million from computer equipment exports, US$34 million from semiconductors, and US$15.3 million from communication equipment to Vietnam.

 

]The Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged ICT industry to reach a growth rate of more than 10 per cent annually in coming years to reach the target of 60 telephones and 15 internet subscribers per 100 residents, and 40 per cent of Vietnamese having access to the internet.

 

By 2010, the ICT industry will bring in US$6-7 billion revenues. (Liberated Saigon, VNS)