E-Government Development: Greater Transparency, Higher Quality Service for the People

 

According to statistics, the use of IT application in public administrative activities is modest. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, an average of 74.1 percent of administrative and regulatory information is posted on the internet nationwide. By the end of 2011, public authorities supplied 829 public services at level 3 and eight services at level 4. 

 

The use of IT application in public administrative activities as well as establishing e-government in Vietnam has continued to grow rapidly in 2012. According to statistics, As much as 96.6 percent of government bodies had websites, 100 percent of provinces and cities had electronic information portals, and 83.6 percent of guidance documents from authorities were posted on the internet. However, the quality and efficiency remained low. The use of IT application has been shifted from computerisation of administrative activities to only supply of public services on higher levels. At present, public authorities have supplied 89,000 public services at level 1 and level 2, 890 public services at level 3 and 11 services at level 4. Vietnam has made a great progress from ranking number 105 in 2005 to number 83 in 2012 following a recent United Nation e-government survey, standing at 4th position in ASEAN after Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. Most comparison indexes of Vietnam are higher than the world average number, especially the e-government index, infrastructure index and human capital index.

 

Speaking at the symposium, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said public services not only centre on the livelihoods of the people, but the development of e-government has initially made remarkable progress. The quantity and quality of online public services is on the rise. However, the relationship between governments at all levels with the people is weak; they are slow at building data structures, and the compatibility of government agencies at all levels is weak. He asked relevant bodies to develop a common database from provincial to central levels to serve the State administration. He told the Ministry of Information and Communications to clearly determine the capability of central and local authorities in providing public services at level 3 to draw experience for future deployment. Deputy PM Nhan also asked them to develop e-government infrastructure for a national standard database to help the nation enter a new stage. From now to 2013, central and local governments must quickly update data and contents for citizens and businesses. He told the Ministry of Information and Communications to review the implementation of national database projects to ensure ongoing data updating.

 

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said previous symposiums changed the perception of public servants about the role and importance of IT in public administration, altered their attitudes and working style, and improved labour productivity. This is the foundation for intensive e-government development in the coming time. The symposium also discussed successful e-government models in other nations. However, he admitted that e-government development in Vietnam is facing numerous challenges ahead. He hoped that e-government development, application and deployment will bring more positive results in the coming time, thus contributing more to the development of the country.

 

Nguyen Hong Quang, Chairman of Vietnam Open Source Free Software Club, said Vietnam does not have official documents on standards and architecture for e-government applications at the national level, a vital element for building successful e-government applications and services for a nation.

 

In reality, a strong e-government system will be the foundation of e-commerce development. With e-commerce, domestic and international transactions will be performed more quickly and more conveniently, help ease inflation, create a favourable business environment, and generate more value of goods and currency in circulation for the country. E-commerce is also defined as the fastest-growing business environment in the 21st century. According to experts, in the near future, Vietnam needs to quickly reduce the volume of paper in the current public service and enhance publicity and transparency in all public administrative works and services. Everything will be performed on the electronic information system to meet growing development needs. Without effective solutions for IT application, it is difficult to realise the target of 90 percent of official documents being electronically exchanged among State administrative agencies by 2020.