Vietnam Keen to Emulate and Learn from Malaysia in ICT Development

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili (second from left) receiving a souvenir from Vietnam Minister of Information and Communications Dr. Le Doan Hop (third from left) after a courtesy call on July 18, 2011 at the venue of the Malaysia-Vietnam Business Forum held in conjunction with the ministry-led Trade Mission on ICT and Biotechnology to Vietnam from July 17 to 19. On the extreme left is Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Dato’ Lim Kim Eng and extreme right is Vietnam International Cooperation Department’s director-general Quan Dzuy Ngan Ha.

HANOI (July 18, 2011): Vietnam, which strategies to upgrade its ICT infrastructure by 2020, wants to tap on Malaysia’s expertise and experience particularly in the areas of e-government, broadband infrastructure, human capital building and telecommunication.
Vietnam Minister of Information and Communications Dr Le Doan Hop said his country was keen to emulate Malaysia in its ICT development. As such, he expressed hope that there would be more ICT partnerships, integration and development between the two nations.
He added that this would be useful for Vietnam to tackle several issues namely, human capital development in ICT, development of broadband infrastructure for rural areas, hardware and software ICT industry development and ICT application for socio-economic development.
“Business in these areas will be the strong point to have sustainable development. I also believe that in order to develop the ICT industry, we must give support to the households and enterprises,” Dr Le said during a meeting with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili here today.

Dr Ongkili is leading a 50-member delegation on an ICT and biotechnology trade mission to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 17 to 23 July.
Dr Le remarked that there should be more exchange of government and business visits between the two countries. “We have plenty in common such as culture, and familiarity will promote consensus and mutual benefits,” he said.
The trade mission is to showcase whatMalaysiahas to offer and shareMalaysia’s experience in developing the Digital Malaysia Masterplan. The Masterplan aims at accelerating growth across all sectors by creating a conducive climate for innovation, investment and talent.
“It is Malaysia’s centralised approach for a digital nation that connects and empowers government, business and citizens in a digitally inclusive real time and global environment. It is expected to be crafted by the year end,” said Dr Ongkili said.
Delegates from the ICT sector include agencies under MOSTI, namely MDeC, MIMOS,  CyberSecurity Malaysia, Sirim and .my Domain Registry as well as PIKOM. Thirteen key Malaysian ICT companies joining the mission are CEOPE Risk Technologies, e-Protea MSC, TESS Innovation, Triset, Exabytes Network, Scope Group, SecureMetric Technology, IME Solutions, Belmah Strategies, IDD SolutionNet, K3Y Techs, Verion Research and i-Solutions Computing.
The Malaysian biotechnology sector is represented by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation andTechnology ParkMalaysia, as well as biotech companies namely Biofact Life and Greenworld Genetics.
At a business forum held afterwards, a total of 10 memorandum of understanding were signed to forge collaborative efforts, promote Malaysian technologies and developing market access for the Malaysian companies in Vietnam. The exchange of MOU documents were witnessed by the two ministers.
The MOU include between Mimos Berhad and Vietnamese Institute of Information Technology to share knowledge and collaborate for research in the area of ICT technology relating to precision agriculture, health, e-government and education.
PIKOM and its counterpart Vietnam Information and Software Association (VINASA) forged an agreement to provide a forum for their members to exchange ideas and explore opportunities in trade, investment and transfer of technology and services.
Pikom also hopes to organise a PC Fair and Digital Lifestyle Expo inVietnam, following the success of its annual PC Fair and Digital Lifestyle Expo inMalaysia.
Tess Innovation Malaysia through its MOU with financial institution HanelcomVietnam, has appointed the latter as the sales and marketing, distribution and implementation partner of its CORAL™ Suite of Solutions forVietnam’s Financial Services Industry.
TrisetMalaysiasigned an MOU with Technology & Services Joint Stock Company ( FITECH )Vietnamas well as with FPT Information System,Vietnamto distribute, market and implement Treasury and investment solution to financial institutions.
Software developer CEOPE Risk Technologies Malaysia, which has developedMalaysia’s first anti-money laundering IT solution, signed an MOU with Unitech Technologies Vietnam in the areas of enterprise risk management application and external risk intelligence system for Vietnamese banking, insurance, energy, water and government sector.
SecureMetric Malaysia’s MOU with Vietunion, the provider of e-commerce applications and communities online, is to establish a central authentication and payment centre while its MOU with FIS Vietnam formalises an annual support and maintenance for its back-end system.
Meanwhile, RedtoneMalaysiais partnering with RedtoneVietnam’s Nguyen Thanh Tung to provide E-Purse service for the pre-paid mobile phone market.
In the biotechnology sector, Bionexus status company Green World Genetics Sdn Bhd (GWG) a research based company dealing in a wide range of crops, appointed Saigon Investment Construction and Commerce Co. Ltd (SICC) as its exclusive distributor for the selected seed varieties into the Vietnamese market and beyond.
Dr Ongkili also paid a courtesy call to Vietnam Science and Technology Minister H.E. Hoang Van Phong and visited theInstituteofAgricultural Geneticshere today.