HÀ NỘI — In a bid to create a healthy networking atmosphere in the country, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has completed a code of conduct on social networks for internet service providers and users, said Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Minister of Information and Communications.

He said at a meeting on Tuesday that the ministry has plans to prevent the spread of negative content on the internet and social media.

The MIC would also create favourable conditions for the development of the country’s digital content ecosystem, fulfilling the target that users of social media platforms developed by Vietnamese companies account for 50 per cent of the total social media users by 2020, he said.

The minister requested agencies and enterprises under his leadership to include expenses for information technology in their State Budget Estimations and speed up the building of e-government.

Agencies were asked to submit a policy on collecting fees from foreign media organisations in Việt Nam to fund information technology development, he said, adding that it would be about two per cent for enterprises with turnover of VNĐ1 trillion (US$42.7 million).

The ministry will focus on setting up a National Innovation System, building the 4.0 Innovation Centre in Việt Nam as well as developing Vietnamese technology enterprises which contribute to the increase of labor productivity in all fields.  It will also concentrate resources on the development of cyber security.

"Cyber security is considered a precondition for the development of e-government, digital government and the digital content industry,” he told toquoc.vn. “Việt Nam must become a cybersecurity power.”

The MIC will also work with the State of Bank to find solutions for payments to businesses providing digital content services. The Ministry’s point of view is that telecommunications accounts should be used to pay for other kinds of goods valued at less than VNĐ2 million ($85).

 Hùng also instructed agencies and units under the MIC to focus on improving the national ranking.

Việt Nam is ranked at 100 out of 193 countries all over world in information and technology sector while the country’s rankings in communications, cyber security and human resources in information and technology are still low. Therefore, it is necessary to have a concrete plan so Việt Nam can move its ranking up to between 30 and 50 by 2020, he said.

The latest report issued in January this year by We are Social, a social media marketing and advertising agency, showed around 55 million Vietnamese people, or 57 per cent of the population, use social media. 64 million are online. — VNS