The Government Office of Việt Nam and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in e-government development in Hà Nội on Thursday.— VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Government Office of Việt Nam and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in e-government development in Hà Nội on Thursday.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and French Ambassador to Việt Nam Bertrand Lortholary attended the ceremony.

The MoU aims to build bilateral cooperative between the Government Office and the AFD in implementing e-government in Việt Nam, thereby supporting the Government’s digitalisation, administrative modernisation and reform process.

It is the continuation of another MoU signed between the Việt Nam Government Office and the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance.

According to the MoU, the Việt Nam Government Office and the AFD will cooperate in such prioritised fields as building integrated solutions and data sharing between government agencies and data protection; a national portal for public services; and solutions to identify individuals and businesses.

In the long run, the two sides could partner in other spheres of mutual concern, such as support to change the information system, building an IT infrastructure system, ensuring cyber information safety, and building digital government and open data.

The Prime Minister said the MoU aims to strengthen the cooperation agreement between the two governments after the visit to Việt Nam by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in November last year, when both sides agreed to develop e-government and modernise state administrative management.

PM Phúc said France is one of the leading countries in e-government adoption according to evaluation from the UN, so it has a plenty of experience to share with Việt Nam, especially as the Vietnamese Government is defining the building of e-government as an important strategy to serve its people.

He asked the French Embassy and Vietnamese Government agencies to provide support.

Lortholary said Việt Nam and France have cooperated in numerous fields in the past, including the building of e-government. The important thing is to provide services for people in an effective, convenient and safe manner, he said.

In recent times, France has sent experts to Việt Nam to help build e-government in the Southeast Asian country, he added. — VNS