Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Source: Bloomberg)

Prime Minister Phuc said in policy-making, Vietnam consistently holds that policies must create drivers and opportunities for enterprises and the people to do business. He said the Vietnamese Government has policies to cultivate the startup and innovation ecosystem, improve the business climate and enhancing national competitiveness, and improve international integration strategy. Regarding the development of the digital economy, Prime Minister Phuc said Vietnam has a young population that is digitally savvy, which is a favorable foundation and a sufficiently large market to cultivate the digital economy and accelerate investment into new business models in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government will establish an enabling environment, such as an ecosystem for the development of digital economy, step up economic restructuring and growth model transformation in close coordination with digital transformation. He said Vietnam will focus on implementing e-government, developing a comprehensive system of information infrastructure, focusing on investing in and developing 4G and 5G networks; and encouraging enterprises to invest in information infrastructure to ensure public access. In addition, Vietnam is developing the necessary human resource for the development of the digital economy, the PM noted. Vietnam will promote the application of digital technology in all aspects of socio-economic life, particularly in such promising areas as agricultural management, manufacturing industry, logistics, digital finance, healthcare, etc. Also in the interview, the Prime Minister shared Vietnam’s stance on protectionism and ASEAN’s urgent issues.