The digital economy accounted for 14.96 per cent of Vietnam’s GDP in the first half of the year, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has said.

It reported the result at the 6th meeting of the National Committee on Digital Transformation and a teleconference on digital transformation tasks and a project on the population database, e-identification, and e-authentication for national digital transformation for the 2022-2025 period (Project 06) with a vision towards 2030, which was held in Hanoi on July 12.

As of June, the national population database was connected to 13 ministries and sectors, four businesses, and all 63 cities and provinces.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked relevant ministries, agencies, and localities to fine-tune policies and mechanisms for national digital transformation and Project 06.

They were also instructed to simplify regulations and administrative procedures relating to investment, business activities, and people’s lives, and ensure a reduction of at least 20 per cent in the number of regulations and cut compliance costs by at least 20 per cent, as directed by the government.

Prime Minister Chinh also told them to improve the efficiency of online public services to offer the utmost convenience to citizens and businesses. Urgent requirements were given to expedite the provision of 28 key online public services on the National Public Service Portal, he said.

He also called for efforts to have at least 20 million citizens use the e-identification platform VNeID, with a minimum of 10 million applications by the end of this year.