The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) is developing a scheme to turn Vietnam into a powerful country in terms of telecommunications and information technology. The Vietnam Economic Times talks with Do Trung Ta, the Prime Minister’s IT envoy cum chief of the National Steering Board for IT, about this scheme.

What is the content of the scheme to develop Vietnam’s IT and telecom industry in the future?

Under this scheme, Vietnam’s telecommunications and IT industry will be developed in the following five aspects:

Firstly, we will develop strong infrastructure for telecom and IT, which is strong enough to facilitate all kinds of telecom, Internet, IT and other new services while ensuring security, secrecy and the individuality of the subjects participating in the Internet and telecom networks.

Secondly, the scheme aims to create qualified human resources, both users and those who work in this area. Specifically, everyone uses IT so everyone has to have minimum knowledge about IT and know how to use the Internet. The IT workforce must have knowledge, creativeness to develop the IT industry.

Thirdly, IT applications must become popular in all fields of society and a tool for all economic and social activities.

Fourthly, Vietnam will develop the hi-tech and IT industry by taking advantage of international labour assignment and technology transfer to have products serving the domestic market and for export.

Fifthly, we have to create a market for IT, which reflects the growth rate and the contribution of IT to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

How is Vietnam’s IT industry at present?

Vietnam’s IT industry is less than the world’s average level. To become a strong country in IT, Vietnam must rank from 40th to 50th of the 200 countries in the world. At present, it ranks 92nd on the International Telecommunications Union’s list of 154 countries.

Vietnam’s IT sector has developed fast in recent years but the gap between Vietnam and countries that have developed IT industries is very wide. The current IT human resources don’t meet our requirements. The application of IT has been widened but it is ineffective.

The IT industry is still ruled by foreign investors. Local firms account for a small portion of the total revenue of this industry.

Why is Vietnam’s IT industry still weak though the government has issued many policies to develop this sector?

We have had good ideas and policies on applying and developing IT to meet requirements for social-economic development. However, we lack a national synchronous policy for IT. The IT category is not named separately on the list of sectors invested in by the state budget. IT is still a part of the “transportation and post” sector.

Vietnam also lacks a mechanism for investment in the IT sector. Even telecom firms don’t want to invest in the IT sector. In that situation, how can the IT industry develop strongly?

In the above-mentioned scheme, the Ministry of Information and Communications suggested some goals for the 2015-2020 period, for example: Vietnam will be among the world’s 70 top countries for IT and telecom, Vietnam will have international-scale IT groups, which have annual revenue of over $15 billion.

Do you think that reaching these goals would make Vietnam a strong country in IT?

Generally, these goals are okay, but we should make them more specific. For example, in 2007, the IT sector earned $4.5 billion but only several hundred million USD was generated by Vietnamese companies. So it is necessary to set goals for the annual revenue of local software firms, annual export turnover, etc.

When Vietnam becomes a powerful IT country, how will Vietnam’s IT industry and social life be, in your imagination?

By 2020, Vietnamese people will be familiar with computers and the convergence of telecom, Internet and television technology on the TV and computer screen like they are familiar with handheld phones at present. At that time, information will be available everywhere and on-demand. Information will be transferred at high speed and personal information security will be ensured at a high level. IT will be an indispensable tool in life.

As of 2010, we will teach Internet at kindergartens so the popularity of IT will be very high.

Now we have to focus on producing made-in-Vietnam IT products. Once the IT industry develops, many new forms of business will appear.

The IT industry’s contribution to GDP will account for one-fourth or one-fifth of the total, equivalent to the ratio of developed IT countries in the region and the world.

To turn Vietnam into a powerful country in terms of IT, what solutions should we use?

I think we will still have to concentrate on human resources and training activities because the IT industry can only become the country’s key economic sector with qualified human resources. We have to calculate how many IT experts we need from now to 2020 and have plans to train these people.

Secondly, we have to develop the IT market to encourage the development of the IT industry. We need to have a national IT promotion programme and specific solutions in terms of mechanisms and policies to really attract businesses to invest in the IT industry.