Vietnam’s digital government landscape ranked 86th out of 193 countries in 2022. In January 2023, the Ministry of Information and Communications released its goal for Vietnam to be among the top 50 countries by 2025. Vietnamese leaders consider e-government a panacea to the corruption that impedes Hanoi’s ambition to become a regional economic tiger.
A shift away from the corruption scandals at the central level spotlighted as part of the ‘blazing furnace’ campaign exposes a picture of petty theft and speed money running rampant in the system. Both domestic and foreign businesses are vulnerable to power abuse by local authorities who often demand ‘informal charges’ in exchange for smooth services, sometimes as simple as business registration. As Vietnam seeks to strengthen its position as a safe and attractive destination for foreign investors, e-government can help promote transparency and accountability and reduce corruption.
One major pillar of e-government development in Vietnam is the provision of digitised public services through platforms like the national portal for public services. This platform offers 31 per cent of public services at level 4 of digitisation, allowing businesses and individuals to file official documents online, integrate them into a database, make contactless payments and receive virtual responses from government agencies. The transactions traditionally taking place between local elites and businesses are now digitally integrated into the national portal, reducing opportunities for corruption.
Vietnam aims to become a developed industrial nation by 2045 and sees the digital economy as the ideal growth model to achieve this goal. Developing a well-structured e-government system is essential in this effort. E-government development provides firms incentives and mechanisms to embrace digitisation in their business models.