VietNamNet Bridge – People would find more and more directions from leaders of ministries and related organisations, Government agencies and centrally governed cities and provinces on their portals and websites,

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the European Commission co-operate to establish a website on market access and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Technical Barriers to Trade. The site aims to strengthen the capacity of the Viet Nam Government and relevant organisations to meet the requirements of international trade agreements.

Hong was answering a query from Nguyen Gia Anh Tuan from HCM City in an on-line talk on the Government’s electronic project.

He said information on most public-administration services would be available on-line by 2015. Information technology would be used to renovate information management among government agencies.

Hong said national data bases on people, land, finance, economics, industries and trade would become the foundation for electronic Government.

Referring to a question from Lam Le in central Quang Ngai Province about measures to promote e-government, he said it was important that leaders at all levels should know about the plans.

Completing a legal framework for the operation - and improving co-operation in sharing information among State agencies were also necessary criteria.

The Deputy Minister agreed with Duong Van Nhan from southern Soc Trang Province that the breaking of a previous IT scheme titled 112 had affected its application in State-owned agencies.

He added that incomplete awareness by some local leaders on the importance of IT had slowed the process.

However, Hong said he had seen recent progress in applying IT by agencies. By the end of this year, the ministry would make proposals to the Government to promote the process.

Nguyen Dat from northern Yen Bai Province’s Department of Information and Communications said everything about applying IT just stayed on paper since there was no capital to translate it into reality.

The Deputy Minister said the Prime Minister’s decision had been issued in March so it failed to synchronise with the central budget plan. It took time for MoIC, Finance, Investment and Planning ministries to make calculations on supplementing expenditure.

Nguyen Cong Toan from northern Dien Bien Province’s Muong Ang District expressed concern about low project investment in mountain provinces.

Many people joined the on-line discussion. Several asked about the use of IT applications when many local leaders had poor IT knowledge and some communes were not even connected to the internet.

The Deputy Minister said the State should have programmes to improve leaders’ knowledge. He added that the development of e-government was a long, continuous process.

He said MoIC would ensure every commune was connected to the internet by 2010.

Ho Minh from HCM City asked if cumbersome administration procedures affected the feasibility of e-government.

Hong said e-government would contribute to simplifying administration procedures. It required public servants to move from paper-based working habits to a computer-based working style. This could not be done in one or two days.

(Source: Viet Nam News)