Hanoi (VNA) – The digital economy has created new trends and demands andVietnam should take advantage of these while preparing for necessary changes tobuild the digital economy, said Deputy Ministerof Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung.

He made the statement toa workshop on the development of Vietnam’s digital economy held by the Ministryof Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on June 28.

The digital economy has beendefined as a vital pillar for economic growth, creating breakthroughs for eachcountry as the world enters the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0),Hung said. Many technology solutions in all sectors have been built, bringinghuge new benefits.

“In Vietnam, the digitalisation trend ordigital transformation has been seen in all sectors from trade, payment tohealthcare, education, tourism and transport. The digital economy based ondigital technology foundation and integrating smart technologies to maximiseprocess and production models, especially Internet of Things (IoT), ArtificialIntelligence (AI) and blockchain have changed the world’s production,” he added.

Developing a digitaleconomy is not a task for Vietnam only, said Dang Hoang Hai, head of the MoIT’sVietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency (VECITA). As it has been moving sofast and had enormous impacts, many countries have started to draw upstrategies for the development of the digital economy, though they had never thoughtabout it before, he explained.

“The development needs ofthe society, market and economy are making us promptly adopt a direction andstrategy for the growth of the digital economy in Vietnam,” Hai noted.

According to him, thoughthe country has issued policies to facilitate the development of the digitaleconomy, they are separate and disconnected. There is a lack of a direction anda national strategy for this matter, he said. “Our job is to connect thesepolicies in a way to create a big picture for the growth of the digital economyin Vietnam,” he added.

Sharing experiences inbuilding digital economy which the World Economic Forum (WEF) learned fromDemark, Kelly Ommundsen, WEF’s Community Lead, Digital Economy and SocietySystem Initiative suggested that investment into digital transformation inVietnam should not only come from businesses but society.

The development of thedigital economy should not be implemented in each country but the region. Forexample, Vietnam should be put into the digital economy development trend ofthe ASEAN region to build effective strategies.

However, she said, themost important thing to build a successful digital economy in Vietnam was toconnect ministries and sectors in the overall system.

According to the MoIT, up to 53 percent ofthe Vietnamese population has access to the internet. Revenue from e-commerceexpanded 25 percent annually, up from 4.07 billion USD in 2015 to 6.2 billionUSD last year, and is expected to reach 10 billion USD in 2020.-VNA