STATEMENT By HE. Dr. Phan Tam
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Information and Communications, Viet Nam ADGMIN Bocaray, Philippines
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Mr. Chairman
Mr. Secretary General of ASEAN Excellencies Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I wish to express our thanks and appreciation to Mr. Chairman and our colleagues in the Philippines for the excellent preparation and the hospitality extended to all of us. We are very delighted to see ASEAN friends again in this beautiful city of Bocaray.
“Synergy Towards a Sustainable Digital Future”, the theme of our meeting is particularly in line with the effort and hard work to promote our cooperation in ASEAN. Digital infrastructure for digital economy, cybersecurity, digital transformation and digital human resource have been on top our agenda, and will be essential for the sustainable digital future in our region.
In this connection, I wish to highlight some priority areas that could be promoted in our workplan for the coming year.
1. Rollout and commercialization of 5G: Vietnam has been working with the consultants and ASEAN colleagues to develop the Guideline for 5G Ecosystem in ASEAN. This year, with respect to the key roll of 5G in digital infrastructure, we will continue our effort on the 5G Roadmap for ASEAN. We do appreciate the support of ASEAN colleagues and our dialogue partners for this project.
2. On digital transformation: Sharing experience and best practices on digital platforms will help us in saving time and resources, particularly in developing digital government. Vietnam is working closely with ASEAN colleagues on this initiative, to facilitate the exchange, and even joint projects among member states.
3. Digital citizen is the center of our digital future. We need to provide more resources on digital skills, to empower our people, particularly those in remote areas. Vietnam will work with other member states, dialogue partners, international organizations like ITU and Unesco, on toolkits and handbooks to improve digital literacy for ASEAN people.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
ASEAN is playing an increasingly important role in developing regional digital cooperation. I wish to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the hard work of the ICT Unit of the Secretariat and the ASEAN ICT Center.
As Covid-19 is now under control, our projects need to be accelerated, with more resources provided from the ICT Fund and from member states, dialogue partners. We should encourage our working groups and senior officials to be more proactive, coming up with more initiatives to realize the objectives of our Digital Masterplan 2025. Vietnam is committed and ready to work with ASEAN friends in more extensive workplan to foster the building our sustainable digital future.
Thank you for your kind attention./.
