Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tiến Dũng. — Photo vietnamfinance.vn

Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tiến Dũng talks to Vietnam News agency about the National Public Portal Service that aims to tackle petty corruption

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the national public portal?

The portal is designed to connect the Government with people and enterprises. It was officially launched on December 9 after nine months of development.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said the portal reiterated the Government's determination to step up practical e-governance to serve people and enterprises.

Within a month, the portal has attracted 10.3 million people, and during that time 29,000 passwords were issued and 530,000 administrative procedures were handled.

The portal hosts eight public services, including new forms for domestic and international driving licences and electric bill payments, which have been appreciated by the public for their convenience.

Which Government agency has been assigned to control the portal?

The absolute security of the portal, including personal information, has been the main focus. We are confident that with lessons learned from Estonia, ministries, sectors and localities will keep the data safe and sound.

Government agencies assigned by the Prime Minister, including the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Communications and Information and the National Cyber Security Centre have to co-ordinate with each other to run the service.

And finally, the Việt Nam Post and Telecommunications Group has been assigned to design the software system. Foreign experts, including those from France and the World Bank, have highly evaluated the quality of our software.

Can you tell us more about the public services offered by the Government portal?

The portal offers eight groups of administrative procedures. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2020, more services will be available online.

In the pipeline, the portal will offer 15 more services. Of course, we cannot do everything online. We’ll only offer services with dossiers which could be handled online. Our infrastructure is now able to handle most services required by people and enterprises.

Do you think the portal will secure confidence in the Government’s fight against corruption and embezzlement?

I couldn't agree more! Many people and enterprises have complained about the poor performance of our public services, particularly the poor attitude of some civil servants and rampant petty corruption. We hope the Government portal will help make public services more transparent and accountable.

What’s more important is that all Government administrative agencies should adopt more comprehensive and effective public services. This is a good way to help people and the enterprises save time and money to eliminate petty administrative corruption_VNS