On November 26, within the framework of the Autumn Economic Forum 2025, Parallel Session 3 took place with the theme “Smart government in the digital era”, focusing on shaping a modern, transparent, people-centered urban governance model and towards building Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City to become a smart megacity in Southeast Asia.

Parallel session 3 was organized by the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center. Ho Chi Minh City co-organized at ThiSky Hall, Sala Urban Area, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, bringing together international leaders, experts, academics and the business community.

Speaking at the working session, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. Nguyen Manh Cuong sent a strong message about the strategic role of smart government in the context that the city is moving towards a mega-city governance model.

“Building a smart government is not only a process of modernizing management, but also a journey of profound transformation in the culture of public governance. It is a journey where data becomes a common language, technology becomes a service tool and people become the center of all decisions,” Vice Chairman Nguyen Manh Cuong emphasized.

Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. Nguyen Manh Cuong delivered the opening speech of the 3rd Parallel Session, within the framework of the Autumn Economic Forum 2025

According to him, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City is entering a completely new stage of development after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria – Vung Tau. With the scale of a megacity, contributing 23.5% of GDP and 31% of national budget revenue, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City plays a leading role in the Southeast region. City leaders expect that Parallel Session 3 will help Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City absorbs international experience and encourages deep cooperation between the State – Enterprises – Institutes (cooperation “Ba House”) to jointly create solutions and implementation initiatives. The ultimate goal is to build a transparent, accountable, and understanding government where citizens have access to information, are served quickly, and are involved in the decision-making process.

He also expressed that Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City wishes to learn from the experiences of pioneering administrations such as Singapore, South Korea, and Australia, and at the same time call for the active participation of the whole society, from experts, institutes, businesses to the people, to build a transparent, flexible and effective government.

Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City. Lam Dinh Thang spoke at the event

Speaking at the 3rd Parallel Session, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City. Lam Dinh Thang outlined three strategic pillars that Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City is aiming for a smart government model, including Transparent Data – Real-time Decision (a two-level interconnected data system, ensuring real-time analysis capacity, serving fast and accurate direction and administration); Multi-channel, people-centric public digital services (public services are deployed anytime, anywhere, on any device, transparent, simple, with people’s satisfaction level as a measure of governance quality); Large-scale urban governance after merger (integrated, transparent, closely coordinated governance model in expanded urban space, ensuring synchronous and sustainable development).

Mr. Thang affirmed: “The city is determined to build a smart government in the context that data, AI and innovation are the driving forces for development, and at the same time must synchronously transform in terms of governance, institutions, human resources and public service culture”.

Parallel session 3 also listened to in-depth presentations and sharing from international experts, specifically such as: Characteristics of Smart Government – Lessons from Singapore and suggestions for Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City (Professor Vu Minh Khuong, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – National University of Singapore); Smart management from the perspective of the business (Mr. Warrick Cleine, Chairman and CEO of KPMG Vietnam and Cambodia); The foundations and strength of partnerships: Lessons from Australia (Mr. Sam Conroy, Chairman of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam).

Professor Vu Minh Khuong, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – National University of Singapore, presented a presentation at the event

Professor Vu Minh Khuong said that with an expanded urban area like Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City, the two-level government model must bring the efficiency of serving directly to the people. Specifically, the ward/commune level becomes the direct service line, while the superior level is lean and constructive. GS. Khuong introduced detailed models, notably the comprehensive 7-4-7 strategy for digital governance, and the application of international lessons learned in planning and talent attraction. He made three specific proposals for Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City: Building a smart government based on 7 upstream factors (trust, data, transparency, community ecosystem, talent, innovation, learning capacity); learning experiences from Singapore, focusing on 5 core issues (grasping the trend of the times, building the resonance of the whole system, always having a clear economic strategy at the turning point, persistently learning and attracting talents, promoting public-private cooperation with global corporations); established the special cooperation committee of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore to connect and learn experiences about mechanisms and institutions…

Discussion at the event

The discussion at Parallel Session 3 also revolved around three important axes: transparent data – real-time decision-making; multi-channel, people-centric public lottery services; large-scale urban governance after the merger (two-level and regional linkage). The opinions said that it is necessary to remove barriers to system interconnection, application synchronization, data sharing and resource concentration, ensuring decision-making based on “true, sufficient, clean, live” data. People-centered public services: a culture of digital trust is built through the participation of the community in monitoring, feedback, and co-creation. Post-merger urban governance: requires smart governance, integration, interconnection, and strengthening regional linkages for synchronous, sustainable and unified development.

The discussion was moderated by Professor Nguyen Quang Trung, Co-Leader of the Center for Smart and Sustainable Cities Studies, RMIT University Vietnam; with the participation of local and international speakers and experts such as Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Director of the Digital Transformation Center of Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Nguyen Trung Chinh, Chairman of CMC Group, Mr. Yuan Feng, Software Institute (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Ms. Julia Le, Senior Manager at Cyber Security Centre of Excellence,…

Delegates attending Parallel Session 3

Regarding data governance and data transparency goals, Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Director of the Digital Transformation Center of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City said that the city has issued a data management strategy since the beginning of 2023, which identifies 3 main data groups: people’s data, business data, and urban management data. This is an important foundation for implementing the digital transformation program as well as developing smart cities. However, the implementation process still faces many difficulties, such as the lack of interconnection between systems between the central and local governments, the lack of data synchronization of departments, districts, and communes; data sharing, although there are policies, is still limited, and shared data has not been formed for administration… HCMC Ho Chi Minh City is focusing on removing these difficulties to gradually improve the data platform, better serving the operation and development of smart cities and digital transformation.

Source: Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City