Participants in the first-ever national symposium to discuss the establishment of a comprehensive Governmental web portal and online conferencing system, dubbed the ‘e-Government’, discussed the need on building an e-Government linked to administrative reforms during their second day of meeting in Hanoi on December 17.

According to the participants, creating an e-government site forms part of the country’s administrative reform strategy to improve the effective operational capacity of the Government. Thus, there should be a synchronous legal framework and a financial mechanism for the development of the IT sector.

They proposed that the amount of ODA capital spent on IT projects should be increased from the current level of US$0.6 billion.

Minister of Information and Communications, Le Doan Hop revealed that Vietnam’s government index had improved its position in a global ranking system recently, climbing to 91st place, up from 105th in 2005.

The Government and its cabinet have recently been conducting an increasing number of online meetings. However, the country is facing with many challenges in the process of developing a sustainable e-government system due to limited IT infrastructure and poor IT project management skills, Hop said.

Among the nation’s ministries, the Ministry of Education and Training ranked first in terms of a readiness index for IT development and application (ICT Index) in 2007, followed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Hanoi was ranked first among the nation’s cities and provinces, followed by Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh City. (VNA)