APIs are quietly creating a profound transformation from paper-based to data-driven management; from manual processing to automation; from a system of request and approval to a transparent and service-oriented administration.
What is an API and why do we need a clear way to refer to it?
API stands for Application Programming Interface, which can be most accurately translated as Open Programming Interface. It is a technical standard that allows systems to exchange data according to common, secure, and controlled rules.
APIs act like a "gateway" that allows one system to verify information from another without requiring citizens to carry documents or manually obtain confirmations.
To make it easier for the public to understand, APIs can be referred to by a more familiar name: Data Gateways.
APIs are like a "gateway" that allows one system to verify information from another without requiring citizens to carry documents or manually obtain confirmation. In other words, APIs are a prerequisite for implementing the fundamental principle of digital government : "Declare once - use in many places."
What has Vietnam done, and where are the opportunities for a breakthrough?
Recent experience shows that Vietnam has begun to form important foundations for connecting and exploiting data in state management. However, the overall picture still has gaps that need to be clearly identified in order to move from individual efforts to a unified national strategy. The current situation can be summarized in the following three main points:
Firstly, the legal framework for data connectivity and sharing has begun to take shape. Over the past period, the Government has issued several important documents, creating a foundation for data interoperability and exploitation to serve state management. Notable examples include Decree 278/2025/ND-CP, which mandates data connectivity and sharing between agencies throughout the entire political system; and Decree 194/2025/ND-CP, which concretizes the Law on Electronic Transactions, laying the legal groundwork for data sharing in the provision of public services. In addition, the National Data Integration and Sharing Platform (NDXP/VDXP) has connected with over 90 ministries, sectors, and localities and processes hundreds of millions of transactions annually, demonstrating the growing need and potential for data interoperability.
Secondly, some sectors have taken the initiative, especially the banking industry. This is the first sector to issue regulations on Open APIs with Circular 64/2024/TT-NHNN, effective from March 1, 2025. The identification and standardization of APIs in a key economic sector shows that APIs are no longer just a technical concept, but are becoming an important component of digital service infrastructure.
Thirdly, APIs have not yet been properly recognized as a national strategic pillar. Currently, there is no government-level document defining APIs as a core institution of the digital state. Data connectivity between ministries, departments, and localities remains largely spontaneous, lacking common standards regarding format, structure, security, access control, or logging mechanisms (logging is the automatic generation of system activity logs).
National data remains fragmented, severely limiting its effective interconnection. While we've laid the crucial foundations, we still lack a comprehensive blueprint for the national data connectivity infrastructure—a blueprint in which APIs play a central role.
The national population database already contains over 200 million records, and according to the Ministry of Public Security, it could serve over 70% of administrative procedures if fully connected with other sectors.
APIs remove inherent bottlenecks in the relationship between the State, citizens, and businesses.
For many years, numerous administrative procedures have been hampered by a lack of data interoperability between government agencies. APIs have emerged as a tool to address these bottlenecks, creating a substantial transformation in serving citizens and supporting businesses. The most noticeable changes can be seen in the following five aspects:
1. End the practice of "re-requesting information from oneself." With APIs, the receiving agency can immediately retrieve information from the original data management agency, instead of requiring citizens to personally request confirmation. This method shortens the time, reduces inconvenience, and overcomes the administrative mindset of requiring "citizens to provide proof on behalf of the management agency."
2. Minimize the requirement for submitting hard copy documents. Many types of documents such as household registration certificates, birth certificates, personal information, marital status, etc., can be completely replaced by digital data. When the API is fully implemented, carrying stacks of paper documents becomes unnecessary, helping both citizens and government agencies work more quickly and accurately.
3. The application processing procedure becomes streamlined and seamless. The API allows for automated verification, cross-checking, and information checking steps to occur behind the scenes. Citizens only need to submit their applications once, and the system will forward the data to the relevant agencies. This is a significant shift from "one-stop processing" to "integrated processing."
4. Greater transparency, less direct contact. When data is retrieved via API, every operation is recorded and can be verified. This reduces informal costs arising from officials' discretion, while enhancing integrity and accountability in public service.
5. Businesses are served in a seamless environment. APIs help reduce waiting times, minimize duplicate document requests, and increase access to online public services. This significantly reduces compliance costs for businesses, facilitating investment and business operations, and improving national competitiveness rankings.
API - a core institution of the Digital State
In a context where data is seen as the "new resource" of the digital economy, the issue is not just about data collection, but more importantly, how that data is exploited, distributed, and used throughout the entire public administration system. From this perspective, APIs play the role of a transmission infrastructure that helps the flow of national data operate smoothly, securely, and for the right purpose. APIs help:
1. Transparency of power and reduction of information monopolies. One of the major obstacles to administrative reform is the "information monopoly" in some areas, making the process of handling documents highly dependent on the subjective decisions of officials. APIs, with their automatic tracking and logging mechanisms, ensure that all data access operations are recorded, minimizing the room for arbitrary decisions.
According to official information from authorities, by 2024, up to 70% of administrative document requests will involve verifying information from other agencies. If these verification steps are digitized using APIs, direct contact will be significantly reduced, thereby decreasing the risk of informal costs and enhancing the accountability of public agencies.
2. Ensuring policies are implemented more quickly and accurately. A common difficulty in policy implementation is the "law says one thing, reality says another" situation due to slow or rigidly controlled operational processes. APIs enable instant synchronization between regulations and implementation: when legal texts change, systems can be automatically updated, reducing transition time and minimizing errors.
International experience shows that APIs are a crucial tool for shortening "policy lags". In Estonia—a leading country in e-government—99% of online public services are operated based on more than 3,000 APIs, enabling process updates to occur almost in real time.
3. Create genuine data interoperability nationwide. Vietnam currently manages four "core data resources": the national population database, the land database, the social security database, and the business registration database.
Currently, each database has been built to a certain extent but still operates fairly independently. APIs are the tools that allow these data repositories to connect into a unified ecosystem, creating a foundation for interconnected public services.
The national population database alone contains over 200 million records, and according to the Ministry of Public Security, it could serve over 70% of administrative procedures if fully connected to other sectors. This demonstrates the enormous potential of interoperability via APIs.
4. Meeting the requirement for real-time updates – a key focus in the General Secretary's directives. In his speech at the 14th Central Committee Conference, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the requirement to "build a shared data system, connecting population, land, social security, and businesses; and providing real-time updates from the grassroots to the central level." To fulfill this requirement, no tool is more feasible than APIs. Only APIs allow for instant data exchange, according to common standards, with controlled access and guaranteed security.
Without APIs, data interoperability remains at the level of "formal connection," but with APIs, we can move towards substantive interoperability, where data supports timely and accurate decision-making.
In short, APIs are more than just technology. They are the operational mechanism of the digital state: making power transparent, shortening policy delays, creating genuine data interoperability, and realizing real-time updates across the entire system.
In other words, APIs are tools that help "data resources" truly realize their value, becoming a new driving force for administrative reform and improving the quality of national governance.
The banking industry was the first to issue regulations on Open APIs.
To enter the era of smart operations - 5 key tasks Vietnam needs to implement.
For APIs to truly become the transmission infrastructure for "national data resources," the current fragmented efforts need to be elevated into a focused and targeted action program. This can be summarized into five major task groups:
1. Promptly issue a national API standard. First and foremost, a national API standard is needed to serve as a common reference framework for the entire state system. This standard should not only specify technical aspects (format, structure, data transmission protocols), but also encompass requirements for security, access control, logging, and monitoring.
When each ministry, department, and locality designs its API according to a common standard, connecting, expanding, and upgrading the system will become easier, avoiding a " каждый за себя" (everyone for themselves) situation, which leads to waste and difficulties in interoperability.
2. Building a National Data Gateway for Shared Use. Alongside the API standard, a truly shared national data gateway for all agencies within the political system needs to be perfected. Instead of each agency building its own "separate hub," the national data gateway should act as the "main highway," where sectoral and field data systems "enter and exit" through a unified mechanism.
This will be the central infrastructure for coordinating data traffic, controlling information security, and optimizing investment and operating costs, instead of spreading resources across too many dispersed platforms.
3. Integrate API requirements right from the law and policy design stage. Another key point is to "implement APIs directly in policies." Laws, ordinances, and decrees—especially in areas such as land, investment, businesses, and social security—need to clearly define which procedures must operate on a connected data platform, which agencies are responsible for providing APIs, and the level of data sharing.
When API requirements are established directly in legal documents, the development and operation of information systems will have a clear legal basis, avoiding the situation where "the law says one thing, the technology system says another."
4. Standardize and clean data across ministries, departments, and localities. APIs are only effective if the underlying data is standardized and reliable. Therefore, a comprehensive program for standardizing, cleaning, and synchronizing data across ministries, departments, and localities is essential.
The fact that each place uses a different data structure, different encoding methods, or even overlapping or inaccurate ones, will prevent the API from "putting data resources into operation" as expected. Data standards and API standards must therefore go hand in hand as two sides of the same coin.
5. Prioritize information security and privacy. Ultimately, as data connectivity infrastructure becomes more open and robust, the risks to information security and privacy also increase. This necessitates a robust legal and technical framework for protecting personal data, access control, encryption, monitoring and tracing, and handling violations.
Only when citizens, businesses, and government agencies feel confident about the system's security and transparency can APIs be widely and sustainably deployed, becoming the foundation for a data-driven governance model.
A National API Strategy is Needed
API, or "data gateway," is more than just a technical term. It's the communication infrastructure of a new era, where data becomes a resource and operations become automated.
Vietnam has made significant progress, but to achieve a breakthrough, a National API Strategy is needed to unify, standardize, and optimize the exploitation of data resources.
In that case, APIs will become a crucial driving force in shifting the State from a traditional management model to a smart operating model, better serving the people and promoting stronger national development.
According to the Government Newspaper
Source: https://mst.gov.vn/api-dot-pha-the-che-cua-ky-nguyen-du-lieu-197251125105003284.htm
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