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The goal was set out in a Directive on speeding digital transformation and building HCM City into a smart city issued by the Standing Board of the municipal Party Committee.

Accordingly, attention will be paid to raising public awareness of digital transformation; organising the implementation of digital transformation tasks and building digital government; and integrating and effectively exploiting data to serve the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, socio-economic recovery and development, and modern-oriented governance.

Specific action programmes will be mapped out and implemented, while the application of information technology will be accelerated across fields in association with ensuring information security and safety in building digital government, economy and society.

Investments will be strongly poured into human resources development, focusing on training and fostering cadres, civil servants and public employees.

Resources will be prioritised in digital transformation in Thu Duc city, contributing to forming a highly-interactive innovation city in the East of the southern hub.

Enterprises, especially those operating in information, communication, science and technology are encouraged to actively invest and join the digital transformation process, and provide essential digital services.

Experts said promoting digital transformation is one of the solutions to accelerate post-pandemic conomic recovery in HCM City and move towards strong development in the future, adding that the work should be considered one of the new growth drivers.

According to the HCM City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), the digital economy contributed nearly 192 trillion VND (8.3 billion USD) to the city’s GRDP in 2021, equivalent to 14.41% of the total. The rate is expected to reach 15% in 2022.

HIDS has proposed to to build HCMC City into a financial technology hub (Fintech hub); develop testing policies (sandbox) on digital transformation; and complete a support and consultation centre for digital transformation (DXCentre).

According to Dinh Lam Thang, Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, the southern hub is one of the localities having the highest number of smartphone users. The fiber optic network infrastructure, broadband internet, and 3G and 4G mobile infrastructure cover 100% of communes, wards and townships in the city. These are advantages for it to speed up digital transformation in the time to come./.