Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat and Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, both of them members of the Party Central Committee, on January 8 called for greater investment in science-technology to push national digital transformation, e-Government, and the digital economy forward.
Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh
Dat and Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, both of
them members of the Party Central Committee, on January 8 called for greater investment
in science-technology to push national digital transformation, e-Government,
and the digital economy forward.
Speaking at the ongoing 13th National Party Congress, Dat affirmed
that science-technology has made practical contributions to the country’s
industrialisation and modernisation process and national defence-security while
improving social welfare and people’s lives.
According to the Global Innovation Index 2020, Vietnam ranked 42nd out of the 131 economies. The country also led the group of 29 lower-middle
income economies and was placed third in Southeast Asia behind Singapore and
Malaysia.
In public health care, Vietnam was among the top three ASEAN nations and
43 countries and territories globally that can produce vaccines. It also
succeeded in preventing and eliminating dangerous communicable diseases.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the health sector developed rapid testing
kits, produced respirators, and designed treatment regimens.
The official suggested shifting the growth model to one based on science-technology
and innovation so as to improve economic competitiveness, adding that the
science-technology sector will step up innovation in service of socio-economic
development in the near future.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung (Photo: VNA)
Hung, for his part, said Vietnam is one of the first countries in the world
to have issued a national digital transformation programme and strategy.
He added that the information and communications sector has set a goal
of turning Vietnam into a power in cyber security and safety, with a focus on “Make
in Vietnam” eco-systems. The domestic cyber security and safety sector is expanding
25-30 percent each year.
The sector will further
strive to play a leading role in national digital transformation on the basis
of upholding the collective power of society as a whole, contributing to
developing Vietnam into a digital nation by 2030, the official said./.