Attending the Forum were more than 500 delegates, including representatives from ministries, central agencies and localities; leaders of Vietnam's associations and enterprises, embassies of the United States, Japan, Korea, China, Israel, Britain, Italy, France, Sweden, Australia, Netherlands, Iran ..., leaders of foreign investors and businesses.
Addressing the Forum, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized: Digital economy is becoming increasingly important to the global economy, not just in Vietnam. Digital economy is one of the leading factors for the growth and development of a nation and creates innovative opportunities for businesses. In Vietnam, ministries, sectors and localities are making great efforts to improve the business environment in order to attract investment in this area.
Vietnam has become a destination for foreign IT investors. In order for Vietnam to continue to be the destination of foreign investors in the digital economy and the industrial revolution of 4.0, the review and updating of policies to attract investment should become an important part of the digitization of the country.
In addition, the Government proposes that the Ministry of Science and Technology collaborate with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to train IT human resources, Particularly, it is necessary to encourage enterprises to participate in training and coordinate with training establishments.
Minister Truong Minh Tuan also shared with the ICT community, businesses, domestic and foreign investors some views and directions of MIC in this important area. The Minister said that the benefits of investing in IT include: Benefits from the preferences and determination of the Government; prioritized tax policies; infrastructure development, etc. The strong development of e-Government and IT-telecom infrastructure are two examples of the determination of the Government and ministries, sectors and localities.
The Ministry of Information and Communication has been and will continue to advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly proposals to complete the legal framework on ICT. In the coming time, MIC will actively link Vietnam’s IT businesses with others in ASEAN and at the same time with investors in both domestic and international market. The Government always supports and creates favorable conditions for Vietnamese entrepreneurs to invest in foreign countries. To fulfill these tasks, apart from the efforts of the Government and the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Minister wished to receive exchanges, supports and consultant from agencies, units, enterprises and individuals in order to further promote the development of the ICT sector.
At the Forum, the Minister hoped to receive views, directions, specific proposals on policies and solutions needed to increase investment to promote the development of digital economy in Vietnam in the coming time.
Vietnam ICT Investment Forum (VIF) is an annual event under the national investment promotion program. Its theme in 2017 is "Investment in the digital economy transformation". In the trend of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the digital economy is becoming important to the global economy. Digital economy transformation is a key factor to promote the growth and development, as well as to be a foundation for increasing productivity in other industries and creating innovative opportunities for businesses and new market approach. The Vietnamese Government has some guidelines for the application and development of IT for socio-economic development, enhancing national competitiveness and international economic integration. Some of guidelines have been concretized through documents to promote the development and application of ICT in socio-economic trades.
The Forum helps state agencies to listen recommendations of businesses and the international community for improving regulations and policies under context of the transition to the digital economy, increasing the role of associations in supporting to investment activities of enterprises in the international integration as well as calling for the foreign ICT enterprises to invest in the Vietnamese market and boosting offshore investment.
The VIF 2017 is organized with the following objectives:
- Policy consultation to attract investment in the field of information and communication to create favorable business and investment opportunity in the digital environment.
- Orient and sustain the strength of business investment in long term, while promoting the interests of the digital community in the Vietnamese market as well as promoting investment abroad.
- Attract foreign investment into Vietnam and promote investment of domestic and foreign enterprises in the information system application programs of local government & agencies.
The Forum had three main activities: Forum, ICT Exhibition and Business Networking. The Forum had three sessions: ICT policy for investment in the digital economy, The digital market: investment opportunities and challenges, Connecting stakeholders in the digital economy.
The exhibition had booths of enterprises introducing ICT products and services as follows: Smart city & IoT, Solution for Telecommunications and internet infrastructure development’ E-commerce, Start-ups.
The Business Networking involved the participation of 50 local and foreign businesses. The meeting connected investors, businesses and localities to discuss solutions, investment models, etc.
