BCIU is headquartered in the United States and mainly bolsters international trade and commerce.
Addressing the meeting, Jeffrey Donald, vice president of BCIU, said that the BCIU delegation came to Vietnam to seek cooperation opportunities in the country following a roundtable discussion between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and BCIU’s member companies on September 27 last year, on the occasion of the PM’s visit to New York to attend a high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
BCIU aims to gain deeper insights into Vietnam’s preferential policies for startups and innovation ecosystem, as well as the role of joint activities between local and BCIU enterprises in promoting the cooperative relationship between the local Government and the U.S.-based companies, the BCIU vice president added.
As for Vietnam, Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, at the meeting gave the BCIU delegation a briefing on the local legal framework and the development of the local ICT sector, as well as a presentation to encourage ICT growth.
The local Government is making strides in developing e-government services before converting to a digital government to offer public services to local residents and enterprises in a more transparent manner.
ICT infrastructure facilities in Vietnam are stable, with the percentage of local people using mobile phones reaching 120%. Also, 60% of the locals have access to the internet, and almost 40% of mobile phone subscribers use 3G and 4G services, Hung said.
The ministry aims to grant licenses to local telecom providers to pilot the 5G service and officially roll it out in 2020.
Further, the country is currently looking into ways to improve its business environment, streamline procedures for business registrations, boost the use of e-payment methods and develop an innovation startup ecosystem.
Accordingly, Hung said, this is the right time for the two countries to tighten their ties, especially in the ICT and hi-tech sectors.