Powered by telecommunications and information technology

(Baonghean) - The cooperation between Nghe An province and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) in recent years has brought many "sweet fruits" in the field of telecommunications - information technology (IT). That is the basis to help raise the strategic cooperation relationship to a new level, contributing to the goal of building Nghe An into a prosperous province and the center of the North Central region.

Civil servants of the one-stop department of the Department of Industry and Trade work on public administration software. Photo: Thu Giang

Linking to build a solid IT foundation

On September 13, 2014, the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) laid the first bricks for future bilateral cooperation by signing a strategic cooperation agreement on IT for the 2014-2020 period, including 5 contents: Cooperation in the field of building telecommunications and IT infrastructure; cooperation in the field of IT application; cooperation in perfecting solutions to ensure information safety and security; cooperation in the field of developing telecommunications - IT human resources, cooperation in the field of IT industry.

This event is a mark demonstrating the province's determination to implement Resolution 26 of the Politburo on building Nghe An into an industrial and technological center of the North Central region. Up to now, after nearly 3 years of implementation, the above agreement has achieved many outstanding results in many fields. Thanks to the direction of the Provincial People's Committee to create conditions for VNPT Nghe An in developing telecommunications - IT network infrastructure, organizing conferences to "solve difficulties" for businesses including VNPT, issuing many documents, programs, plans, ... related to telecommunications - IT, the two sides have worked together to build telecommunications and IT infrastructure to ensure the construction of e-Government with 4 data integration centers, building nearly 1,500 BTS stations (2G/3G/4G), making efforts to cover 4G, expanding fiber optic cable network to 100% of communes, ...

The two sides also promote the application of IT in the fields of education, health, administrative reform, etc., in parallel with the coordination in deploying the Document Management and Administration System (VNPT-iOffice) for provincial departments, branches, and sectors, 21 district, city, and town People's Committees and 480 communes and wards, with the entire system expected to be officially put into operation from September 1, 2017, ensuring the requirement of connecting 4-level documents earlier than the progress required by the Government. In addition, exploiting the online conference system, providing free of charge the warning messaging system for the Office of the Provincial Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue, etc. are also the "first fruits of the season" in the Nghe An-VNPT strategic cooperation.

Paying attention to perfecting solutions to ensure information safety and security, VNPT has organized many useful training courses for Nghe An's management staff, coordinated the deployment of specialized data transmission networks for state agencies located in the area, built cloud computing infrastructure to store centralized data, ... and has not let any information safety and security loss occur.

Notably, VNPT has accompanied the province to develop human resources in telecommunications - IT, creating conditions for students to practice, intern and receive excellent students for work. Most recently, in 2017, VNPT Nghe An directly trained and signed collaborator contracts with 21 IT students of Vinh University to participate in deploying the VNPT-iOffice system for state agencies, which was recognized and highly appreciated by the school's Board of Directors.

VNPT has also invested in synchronous fiber optic network infrastructure and broadband access network gateway capacity in the Southeast Economic Zone, signed cooperation agreements and deployed service provision in large industrial parks such as VSIP Nghe An, WHA Hemaraj, Dong Hoi, Nghi Thiet Deepwater Port, etc.

One-stop transaction at Hoa Hieu ward (Thai Hoa town). Photo: Thu Giang

Expectations to enhance cooperation

Based on the recognition of the results, shortcomings, limitations as well as lessons learned after 3 years, in addition to accompanying Nghe An in the areas where the agreement has been signed, VNPT also boldly proposed cooperation in consulting and building smart cities for Nghe An province. This is a solution using information and communication technology to improve the quality of life, working capacity and ensure sustainable development, which is gradually proving to be a prominent trend in many places around the world. Mr. Huynh Quang Liem - Deputy General Director of VNPT Group proposed:

“First, closely follow the development orientation of the Government, suitable to the characteristics of the province. Second, take people as the center. Third, refer to prominent trends, summarize practical experiences in the world. Fourth, clearly identify solutions that can be deployed immediately, soon bringing benefits to people, businesses and the government. Fifth, build on a modern, synchronous technology platform. Sixth, ensure synchronization between technology and non-technology solutions such as legal, communication, etc. And finally, establish an open platform, open data to encourage businesses and people to participate.”

In the discussion with partner VNPT, comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation emphasized: "In the development strategy, Nghe An hopes that VNPT will continue to pay attention, together with the province, to upgrade telecommunications and IT infrastructure, ensuring the quality of communications and related services, because these contents not only serve Nghe An but also the whole North Central region".

The Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee also affirmed that building a smart city is what Nghe An is doing, but it needs to invest and upgrade more systematically on the basis of the existing management and operation system. In response to VNPT's proposal, he said that it is necessary to conduct a survey and re-evaluate the response capacity of infrastructure in Nghe An, and suggested that VNPT coordinate to help the province orient its future development. "If this problem is solved, Nghe An will lead, manage and operate more effectively, apply machinery and technology, everything will be more responsive, people will be more sympathetic, businesses will also see more efficiency, clarity, transparency,...", Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh expected.

Highly appreciating the positive, comprehensive and initially effective results in the 5 areas of cooperation between VNPT and Nghe An in the past time, comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also pointed out: "In the orientation of socio-economic development in the coming time, Nghe An will continue to consider the application and development of IT as one of the key priorities, creating a spearhead to build Nghe An into an IT center of the North Central region, successfully building e-Government, contributing to the successful implementation of Resolution 26 of the Politburo". Thus, with the commitment to create the most favorable conditions from the Party Committee and the government of Nghe An province, VNPT is possessing many advantages to make a breakthrough, ensuring the successful completion of the cooperation contents according to the signed agreement, creating a significant change in the development process of Nghe An.

Thu Giang