Hanoi (VNA) -🅷 The Ministry of Information and Communications has coordinated with the Bac Giang People’s Committee to organise a hybrid conference providing knowledge on digital transformation.

The conference was connected to 239 locations in departments, agencies, districts, cities and communes, wards and townships in the province with more than 3,600 participants. It saw the attendance of Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung. Speaking at the function, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Council Nghiem Xuan Huong stressed that digital transformation is still a new concept to many local officials and Party members as they have yet to fully understand and are still confused while conducting related processes. This conference is an opportunity for them to learn and raise awareness about digital transformation in the most basic way, he added. Compared with many other localities, Bac Giang does not have strong economic resources, but it has its own way to for e-government building and administrative reform for the provision of convenient and effective services to people and businesses. In the province, key information systems are deployed synchronously, connecting four levels. Bac Giang’s 2020 digital transformation index ranked 10th out of the 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Huong stated that identifying digital transformation as a special strategic task – both urgent and long-term one – of the political system and the whole society, Bac Giang has strongly boosted the application of information technology, biotechnology, new material technology in service of economic and social development. The province is focusing on developing information technology and digital infrastructure; building digital technology foundation; and applying digital technology to form e-government. In particular, on June 11, 2021, the provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 111 on digital transformation for the 2021 – 2025 period with a vision to 2030, which aims to make the province become one of the top 10 provinces and cities nationwide in terms of digital transformation. At the conference, participatants listened to Deputy Director of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ Authority of Information Technology Application Nguyen Huu Tien presenting an overview of digital transformation. They also heard presentations by Professor Ho Tu Bao at the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) on digital transformation and the methodology 2-3-5; and by Dr. Nguyen Nhat Quang at the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology VINASA on the transformation process in the locality. As heard at the event, the national digital transformation programme identifies three main pillars - digital government, digital economy, and digital society, which take the people and businesses as the center, the subject, the goal, and the driving force of digital transformation. The digital transformation at the local level needs to be synchronised with the national process. The conference had a goal of helping officials and Party members of the province to be more aware of digital transformation; understand what must be done when building strategies and implementing the process; and effectively implement the provincial resolutions and plans for digital transformation at their agencies, units and localities. According to the Bac Giang provincial Party Committee, the province is aiming at the target of providing 100 percent of public services at Level 4 by the end of 2025 on various platforms, including mobile devices. Level 4 is the highest of online public services, which allows users to fill and submit forms and pay fees online. Over 95 percent of the documents, applications at the provincial level will be handled online by then while the rates of documents and applications processed online at the district and communal level are expected to reach 85 percent and 65 percent, respectively. By 2025, over 60 percent of inspection activities by the state management agencies in the province will be carried out through the digital environment and the management agency's information system. The digital economy will account for about 25 percent of the province's gross regional domestic product (GRDP). Bac Giang will have over 800 digital enterprises and 100 percent of the households and all administrative units at communal level will have access to fibre optic broadband network by the same year. Two smart cities will be built in Bac Giang city and Viet Yen district, of which Bac Giang city will be among the top 15 cities in the country in terms of the smart city index./.