Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh addresses the conference. (Photo: VNA)

Amid the fourth Industrial Revolution, information and communications has had an important position and played an increasingly significant role as one of the driving forces for the country’s development and innovation in the digital era, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Speaking at the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC)'s conference in Hanoi on December 18 to review the ministry's performance in 2022 and launch tasks for 2023, the Government leader highlighted the important contributions of the sector in the overall achievements of the country in 2022.

However, there were still a number of shortcomings that the MIC needs to fix in the time to come, including a lack of breakthrough changes in the mindset, awareness and efficiency of digital transformation.

The PM said that 2023 is an important year for the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period, during which digital transformation will continue to be one of the major tasks in the country’s industrialisation and modernisation process.

PM Chinh asked the MIC to focus on completing institutions regarding communications and digital transformation, striving to finish the provision of telecommunications services to all corners of the country, especially remote, mountainous, island and border areas. The MIC should coordinate with the Vietnam Electricity (EVN) group in the work, he said.

The leader also requested the ministry to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to build and regularly update the national database, while focusing on developing the digital infrastructure system with the commercialisation of 5G services, and turning the postal system into an important infrastructure system of the country and the national digital economy.

At the same time, it should pay greater attention to the development of the digital economy to better serve people and businesses, while applying stronger measures to protect people and children on the cyberspace, and minimising fake and toxic information on social networks, he said.

According to a MIC report, this year, the sector has shown strong performance, with total revenue of nearly 3.9 quadrillion VND (165.2 billion USD), up 12.7% year on year.

Domestic telecommunications firms have provided services for 2,152 out of 2,418 remote hamlets and villages across the country, raising their coverage ratio to 99.73%.

The digital economy has contributed 14.26% to the country's GDP, according to the report.

At the same time, 90% of wrongful and toxic information on the trans-border social networks has been removed.

In 2023, the MIC expects the total revenue from the postal sector will reach 63.76 trillion VND (2.7 billion USD), while total telecommunications revenue will hit 21 billion USD. Total revenue of the digital economy is hoped to reach 30 billion USD, with a growth rate between 20-25%. The sector expects to contribute1.3 billion USD to the State budget.

At the conference, on behalf of the Party and State, PM Chinh presented a first-class Labour Order to the MIC.