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| Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. — Photo Viet Thang |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama today twice offered Japan's support for developing information technology (IT) in Viet Nam.
Hatoyama, who is also president of the East Asian Institute, was one of more than 500 participants at an information and technology summit held by the Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association.
This followed comments by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung who said information and technology (IT) had directly contributed seven per cent of the national GDP for the last 10 years.
Dung said Viet Nam ranked fourth in IT in the region after Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. It was also considered one of the top 10 most attractive software outsourcing countries, and was the second largest outsourcing partner for Japan.
During the summit, the former Japanese PM offered to send IT experts from its vocational schools to Viet Nam to help train Viet Nam produce better ITC graduates to meet growing demand.
Hatoyama recommended that Viet Nam establish vocational institutions for training students with special academic knowledge and technological skills.
Earlier, Hatoyama suggested that Viet Nam, with its rapid development, should speed up its e-Vietnam strategy and move to u-Vietnam (u for ubiquitous, meaning continuous communication and exchange of data between retailers, customrs and systems).
He said Japan could share its experiences in the field and provide technical assistance.
The former Japanese PM said that as Viet Nam and Japan were strategic partners, Japan wanted to create a win-win relationship with Viet Nam.
Truong Gia Binh, chairman of Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association and FPT Group said the summit aimed to provide knowledge on how IT would help develop the economy and sustain growth.
Nguyen Ba An, secretary of the National Council on Capacity, Competition and Sustainable Development, said Viet Nam ranked very low on the global competitive index and that better IT could help improve the situation.
In Viet Nam, An said priority should be given to infrastructure, such as building smart transport, smart education, smart healthcare, e-commerce and a smart grid. — VNS