Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung made the above statement at a working session with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday.

Nguyen said digital economy, which accounted for 8.2 percent of Viet Nam’s GDP in 2020, will open up a new space for the country’s economic growth. Viet Nam expects to raise the GDP share of digital economy by 20 percent within the next five years.

In 2018, a report by Google and Temasek referred to Viet Nam’s digital economy as a “dragon being unleashed.” Two years later, the same report put Viet Nam and Indonesia as countries the forefront of Southeast Asia’s digital economy growth.

The ministry also set goals to increase the number of digital enterprises from 58,000 to 100,000 by 2025, and provide 5G coverage nationwide in 2022, according to Nguyen.

He said that one of the ministry’s immediate tasks is to propose amendments to laws on post, telecommunications, and e-transactions in the direction of enriching contents on digital economy and digital infrastructure.

Speaking at the session, PM Pham urged the ministry to mobilize all resources for the development of strategic infrastructures and spearhead sectors./.