The HCM City Department of Information and Communications, the Việt Nam Certificate Authority and Digital Transaction Club and public digital signature certification authentication service providers committed to work together to promote the use of digital signatures in the city. — VNA/VNS Photo Tiến Lực

HCM CITY — Starting from June, residents in HCM City can go to the People’s Committee of Thủ Đức City and other districts to receive free-of-charge digital signatures, according to the city’s Department of Information and Communications.

The department and the National Electronic Authentication Centre (NEAC) under the Ministry of Information and Communications has co-organised a conference to promote the universalisation of digital signatures in the city.

This is one of a series of activities to promote the use of personal digital signatures in the city, creating a strong impetus for the city's digital transformation.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the department, the Việt Nam Certificate Authority and Digital Transaction Club (VCDC) and organisations providing public digital signature certification authentication (CA) services to promote the use of digital signatures in the city.

Accordingly, the parties will implement policies to support and promote the application of digital signatures, especially remote digital signature services used for electronic transactions.

Phạm Quang Hiếu, deputy director of NEAC, said NEAC and VCDC will work with the city’s Department of Information and Communications, public CA providers and relevant agencies to provide free personal digital signatures for local residents for one year.

“The city is expected to have the highest personal signature coverage in the country in the near future,” he said.

Lâm Đình Thắng, director of the city Department of Information and Communications, said the city targets to have 100 per cent of administrative procedures provided online on the city public service portal by the end of this year.

“Therefore, the application of digital signatures and digitisation of records are mandatory requirements,” he said.

The city has provided digital signatures for two groups of subjects, including State agencies and residents.

It has granted digital signatures to 1,140 State administrative agencies, and 11,160 organisations, civil servants and public employees.

The city Department of Information and Communications has coordinated with NEAC to deploy a solution to integrate digital signatures into the city’s electronic information system for handling administrative procedures.

This has gained many positive results, shortening the time needed to handle administrative procedures and improving the quality of public administration.

“The department hopes to bring digital signatures closer to the residents, so that the handling of administrative procedures becomes more convenient and efficient in the near future,” Thắng said.

In October last year, the city's electronic information system for handling administrative procedures was launched and implemented on a large scale across the city.

The system is connected and unified in all districts and Thủ Đức City's administrative agencies, as well as integrated with the national public service portal, the national population database, and e-identification and e-authentication system. — VNS