Prof. Tran Tho Dat: Digital economic growth needs to be 3 times higher than annual GDP growth

Digital economy is one of the three main pillars of National Digital Transformation, together with Digital Government and Digital Society. In September 2019, Resolution 52-NQ/TW dated September 27, 2019 of the Politburo on “A number of undertakings and policies to actively participate in the fourth industrial revolution” identified development digital economy is a pillar, a key strategic task in the development of national digital transformation in the coming years and sets a goal that by 2025, Vietnam’s digital economy will account for 20% of the total. GDP, by 2030 account for 30% of GDP.

These are big goals, in order for Vietnam to exploit the potential of digital economy development and achieve the set goals, important solutions are needed.

Expert Nguyen Thy Nga – Project Manager from Policy to Life had discussions with Prof. Tran Tho Dat, Chairman of the Science and Training Council of National Economics University, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group on the above issue.

GS. Tran Tho Dat – Chairman of the Science and Training Council of National Economics University, Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group

Expert Nguyen Thy Nga: In order for Vietnam to exploit the potential of digital economy development, achieve the set goals, to accelerate the digital economy soon, in your opinion, what are the most important solutions for us to achieve this goal? ?

Prof. Tran Tho Dat: First of all, soon promulgate a comprehensive national digital economy strategy and set up specialized agencies on the digital economy, with one agency primarily responsible for implementation. Next, perfecting the institutional framework and management mechanism in line with the digital business environment, facilitating innovation, in line with regional and global legal frameworks for digital economy development, especially new business models and methods so that the digital economy will soon increase its scale and increase its contribution to growth in general. Policies on the digital economy need to ensure a solid legal basis, consistency in the implementation and implementation of plans and programs on the digital economy.

Second, soon gave a widely agreed definition of “digital economy”, reaching a high consensus; thereby measuring the digital economy consistently to compare and build the “base” digital economy values ​​of a year, as a basis for setting goals for digital economy development in terms of scale and speed. development of sectors and localities.

Tuesdayincrease investment, especially public investment in order to synchronously upgrade essential and widespread infrastructure and digital services, covering every corner of the economy and to each citizen, building and developing synchronously develop national data infrastructure, invest in upgrading technical infrastructure to ensure network safety and security, upgrade infrastructure of important and essential sectors and fields in a synchronous manner, creating favorable conditions for people and businesses can use the benefits brought by the digital economy.

Wednesday, raising awareness about the development of the digital economy and national digital transformation, thereby making the best preparation for the adaptability of these development trends for businesses, especially small and medium enterprises. and super small. Enterprises need to proactively seize opportunities, optimize business models, develop new skills for individuals and organizations, soon deploy digital technology integration, and promote the development of product solutions. production and business based on digitization, participate more effectively in the global supply chain, improve management capacity suitable for new production, business and cooperation models.

Thursday, when participating in the labor market in the digital economy, employees must innovate to adapt to the skills, knowledge and traditional business methods that are now gradually transitioning to the digital environment. In the long-term, it is necessary to develop human resources in the direction of increasing accessibility and adaptability to the constantly changing and evolving technological environment, thereby promoting creative thinking and innovating the education system. education and training with changes from educational management, teaching methods, teaching curricula and new subjects associated with digitization. Implement training programs, re-train leadership skills, manage digital transformation for heads of agencies, organizations, executives and management teams at all levels of enterprises.

FridayProperly and comprehensively understanding both the benefits and challenges of the digital economy is one of the prerequisites for developing the digital economy in the most optimal way possible. One challenge of the digital economy is to contribute to deepening the rich-poor divide in society, since the opportunities to “get rich” from the digital economy will depend on the very different adaptive capacities of different actors. people in the economy. In addition, the issue of digital economy tax as a consequence of the challenge of measuring the digital economy, the diversity and the continuous improvement of digital business forms will increase the complexity of the tax issue for customers. with the digital economy in implementing the problem fairly and effectively.

Expert Nguyen Thy Nga: The digital economy is an important lever for immediate economic recovery and creates momentum for sustainable socio-economic development in the long term. This is not only a matter of national governance, but also regional and local governance, requiring the active role of localities, the capacity for cooperation and linkage between localities, regions and sub-regions. to exploit and use resources effectively, bring into play the driving force systems for development. Currently, a number of provinces and cities have issued resolutions, developing projects on digital transformation, development of the digital economy, digital government, and digital society. What are your comments on these Resolutions and Projects?

Prof. Tran Tho Dat: Up to now, most of the provinces and cities have had resolutions, projects on digital transformation, digital economy development, digital government, digital society, some provinces have had quite early such as Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Da Nang. Nang,…

These Resolutions/Schemes all show the high determination and great responsibility of localities in concretizing the document of the 13th National Congress and the Government’s National Digital Transformation Strategy.

However, there are some points to note in the implementation, review, supplementation and completion of these Strategies/Projects:

firstt, most of the quantitative goals in the digital economy development projects of the provinces are “similar” to the same and similar to the goals set out by the whole country in the Transformation Program. In some countries according to decision 749, the “local identity” of the Resolutions/Schemes is still quite blurred. We have had inadequacies in applying the economic structure of the country to all provinces and cities in the past period. When analyzing the challenges of Vietnam’s digital economy development, there is one obvious objective factor that is geography and spread of population, which leads to high costs in installing additional infrastructures. infrastructure and upgrading existing platforms, logistics costs, especially in mountainous areas and areas prone to frequent natural disasters. In addition, the qualifications and skills of the workforce adapting to the industrial revolution 4.0 have large differences between localities and regions. Therefore, the potential and future of digital economy development of localities are very different, it is not possible to “horizontally advance together” in digital economic development.

SecondHowever, the “concretization” in the implementation of goals on the proportion of the digital economy in GDP, sectors, and targets for increasing labor productivity is not high. Most of the Projects do not specify the quantitative structure of the development of the digital economy (core digital economy, internet economy and industry economy), the impact of the digital economy in the overall economic restructuring of the country. provinces, different digital economy development scenarios, etc.

TuesdayThe Government should soon have a mechanism to promote the development of the digital economy in key economic regions to link digital transformation and digital economy development projects of the localities in the key regions, bringing into play the advantages of the digital economy. The region is not only a place with a high economic growth rate, but also has favorable conditions and potentials for the development of the digital economy.

Recently, the Government has carried out many important activities to promote the digital economy. On June 3, 2020, the Prime Minister signed and promulgated Decision No. 749/QD-TTg approving the “National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with orientation to 2030” defining a vision to 2030. Vietnam becomes a digital, stable and prosperous country, pioneering in testing new technologies and models; fundamentally and comprehensively renovate management and administration activities of the Government, production and business activities of enterprises, people’s ways of living and working, developing a safe, humane, and wide digital environment. all over.

On September 24, 2021, the National Committee on E-Government was consolidated and renamed the National Committee on Digital Transformation. The Committee has 16 members, the Chairman of the Committee is Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. On March 15, the Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Committee on Digital Transformation signed and promulgated the Commission’s work plan in 2022.

* Invite readers to watch programs broadcast by Vietnam Television on TV Online and VTVGo!