Mr. Tran Quang Hung, Deputy Secretary, Hanoi Youth Union,  

Distinguished guests from the Departments of Hanoi, youth representatives from university and to all young people in Viet Nam which join us online,

Welcome you to the Green One United Nations House!

I am delighted to be with you here today among such a diverse gathering of young leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs for the Launch of the Youth Digital Citizen Challenge, an initiative of UNDP, in collaboration with Hanoi Youth Union to promote youth participation in the digital transformation journey set by the Government of Viet Nam, particularly, to improve the quality and accessibility of the online public services.

According to the E-Government Development Index – EGDI of the United Nations, from 2014 to 2020, Vietnam has climbed from 99th place to 86th place among 193 members states. This shows continuous efforts from Vietnam in recent years to embark on the digital transformation. However, to achieve the ambitious goals set in the National Digital Transformation Programme to become one of the top 70 nations in the EDGI, more efforts are needed to ensure that all citizens effectively use and participate in this transformation.

According to the data of the Public Administration and Performance Index (PAPI) people's acceptance of important online services on the web portals of Vietnam’s provinces is below 4%. In the capital Hanoi, the city's total PAPI score in 2020 is 41,629, of which the component score on public administrative procedures is 7.17/10, for public service provision is 6.87/10 and for e-governance is 2.92/10.

The Youth Digital Challenge pursues a dual goal: 1) to increase capacities and engagement of young people in co-creating citizen-centric solutions to online public administrative services. 2) To support the government of Hanoi with an innovative approach to assess and formulate an improvement of plan of its e-government services and solutions.  

UNDP’s is committed to support an inclusive and people-centered digital journey and the “Youth Digital Citizen Challenge” is an innovative initiative aimed at engaging young people in the design of better digital solutions and services. We truly believe that the youth of Vietnam has the skills, knowledge, innovation, and devotion to support local governments in this process as well as in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

With that, I would like to also extend my high appreciation to the Hanoi Youth Union, Hanoi Youth Palace to collaborate with us in this meaningful initiative. We are looking forward to capturing many lessons from this journey that can be shared later with other provinces.  

Thanks again to all of you for joining us. I wish you a successful event today!

Thank you,  Xin cam on