Vietnam has set a target of having the digital economy account for 25 per cent of its GDP by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.

The target was revealed at the first National Forum on Digital Economy and Society Development, which opened in northern Nam Dinh province on September 14.

The target will be quite challenging, however, according to Head of the Central Economic Commission Tran Tuan Anh, and requires that Vietnam find a breakthrough approach and solutions.

He said the proportion of the digital economy’s contribution to GDP has continued rising, from 11.91 per cent in 2021 to nearly 15 per cent in the first half of 2023.

An annual report from Google and Temasek showed that Vietnam had the fastest-growing digital economy in Southeast Asia in 2022, posting year-on-year growth of 28 per cent.

He also pointed out other challenges, including a lack of human resources, in terms of both quantity and quality, risks relating to cybersecurity and the protection of personal data, and limited public awareness about the digital economy.

To help reach the target, he suggested, among other things, speeding up information dissemination to raise public awareness about digital transformation and the digital economy and society; boosting the development of the digital economy on the basis of science and technology; encouraging the development of high-tech enterprises; creating a new development space for AI; improving the quality of human resources; and developing an ecosystem of digital citizens for national digital transformation.