9th Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians: National Assembly/Parliamentary activities are both inevitable and promote digital transformation

On September 15, in Hanoi, right after the opening ceremony, the 9th Global Young Parliamentarians' Conference held a discussion session on Digital Transformation. At the discussion session, young delegates/parliamentarians from all over the world highly appreciated the discussion topic at the conference chosen by Vietnam and believed that the fundamental factor for digital transformation is to perfect institutions and policies, therefore the role of the National Assembly/Parliament is very important. Along with that, the activities of the National Assembly/Parliament are also not outside the inevitable trend of digital transformation.

The thematic discussion session on Digital Transformation focused on the contents of improving institutions and policies in promoting the digital transformation process to enhance opportunities for sustainable economic development; sharing experiences of parliaments of countries in legislative work, supervision and the role of young parliamentarians to promote the digital transformation process in the context of the 4th industrial revolution; sharing progress achieved in digitalizing parliamentary activities for sustainable development.

Overview of the discussion session

During the discussion session, delegates highly appreciated the organization of the Conference by the host country Vietnam and agreed with the choice of theme for this Conference, and expected that many solutions will be proposed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and increase youth participation.

Delegates proposed policies and solutions, especially perfecting institutions on innovation, testing new models, deploying new applications and digital platforms to accelerate digital transformation; popularizing digital connectivity, raising digital awareness, digital culture, digital skills for people, narrowing the digital gap and ensuring equitable access to technology towards the goal of leaving no one behind in the digital environment, ensuring sustainable development.

Speaking at the discussion session, delegate Luu Ba Mac, representing the Vietnamese delegation, said that today, every country, organization or individual must strive to transform, seize opportunities, and overcome challenges if they do not want to be left behind. Digital transformation helps change the way the economy operates, dramatically increase labor productivity, create new driving forces for economic growth; help state agencies operate more transparently and effectively, and help narrow the development gap.

Accordingly, the most important fundamental factor for the digital transformation process is to perfect institutions and policies to promote digital transformation, ensure inclusiveness and sustainable development, and put people at the center, including promoting digital infrastructure, digital ecosystems, and effective solutions to link digital transformation with sustainable development and leave no one behind.

To accelerate the digital transformation process, it is necessary to identify the construction and promotion of national digital platforms as a breakthrough solution. Digital platforms are the "soft infrastructure" of the digital space, solving specific problems of digital transformation, creating and storing user data; the more users, the more data, the cheaper the cost, and the greater the value created.

Delegate Luu Ba Mac said that the success and effectiveness of the digital transformation process requires raising awareness and digital skills for people, especially for people in remote areas.

In addition, the digital transformation process raises discussions about national sovereignty in cyberspace. In the real world, respect for national sovereignty is a fundamental principle recognized in the international legal system. Due to the cross-border nature of cyberspace, ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace is a new and complex issue. Therefore, the synchronous implementation of solutions will contribute to protecting the digital sovereignty of countries. Ensuring sovereignty in cyberspace requires cooperation and coordination of countries in the region and the international community to bring about a safe, healthy and sustainable cyber environment.

Delegate Luu Ba Mac emphasized that digital transformation in parliamentary activities is not separate from the general trend of digital transformation in all fields. Promoting the application of information technology in the activities of the National Assembly is considered a regular task to support and enhance the activities of the National Assembly, build and develop digital platforms and digital tools to comprehensively support parliamentary activities, and enhance and raise awareness of parliamentarians about the benefits and impacts of new technologies on all aspects of life: economic, political, and social.

Delegation of Uruguay

Sharing the same view on digital transformation in parliamentary activities, highlighting the role of technology application in legislative activities, MP Walter Cervini from the Uruguayan Parliament emphasized that technology is creating rapid changes that require appropriate models, conceptual frameworks and methods to solve problems. In order for decision-making bodies to respond effectively to this rapid change, effective “policy prediction” is needed. Parliament has an important role in ensuring that predictive governance is applied throughout the entire parliamentary governance structure, in which the application of technology plays an important role in the policy prediction process. It is stated that parliamentary preparation in “bringing the future” into the present requires technology because science and technology allow policy making based on full and practical information, whether it is about environmental protection, development or conflict resolution, and policies must truly meet the needs of life.

In a video address to the Conference, Member of the European Parliament Brando Benifei said that during his last term, he was the European Parliament's rapporteur on artificial intelligence. The Artificial Intelligence Act is the world's first attempt to guide the impact of artificial intelligence on all aspects of life. Currently, the countries of the European Parliament are discussing many issues related to the law, gathering good practices that have been in practice to minimize risks. The European Parliament wants to turn lessons learned into legal regulations, aiming to protect people and workers from the problem of information abuse by artificial intelligence.

Member of European Parliament Brando Benifei speaks on video

Although each person and each country has a different perspective and approach, it is necessary to create a common language and common understanding on the issue of artificial intelligence, in order to have consistent regulations on this issue, from which countries can work together to deal with the legal challenges that artificial intelligence is creating.

The Korean National Assembly delegate stated that digital transformation must be in all areas, not only technology but also in social life, business and institution building to promote development and make future forecasts. In addition, this process also faces new challenges such as artificial intelligence, automation, etc. Therefore, Korea has passed the Law on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics to serve as a framework for this field.

Delegate of the Korean Young Parliamentarians' Delegation

However, with the rapid development of technology, robots, and artificial intelligence, Korea realizes the need for greater accountability, especially in the face of concerns about the safety of robots or AI technology applications such as self-driving cars... Therefore, it is necessary to have legal regulations and establish a suitable legal framework to minimize risks in this field.

Emphasizing the unlimited potential of digital technology and the role of institutional improvement in the field of digital transformation, the Korean delegate said that young parliamentarians need to be more flexible in applying digital technology and digital society to have appropriate regulations in the law. This also demonstrates the responsibility of parliamentarians to the present and the future.

Stating that Indonesia is one of the countries with the fastest growing digital economy in Southeast Asia and is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming time, the delegate of the Indonesian Young Parliamentarians Delegation also said that in the process, Indonesia still needs to take actions to ensure that people, especially young people and people in rural areas, have access to digital technology, digital services and truly benefit from these services.

Delegate of the Indonesian Young Parliamentarians Delegation

Affirming that youth play an important role in Indonesia's digital transformation, especially the GenY and GenZ generations, the Indonesian delegate said that it is necessary to focus on training in digital technology to have more human resources for the digital economy because the demand is huge. Along with that is the challenge of people's access to the Internet and connectivity. Therefore, according to the Indonesian delegate, the National Assembly needs to support the digital agenda by perfecting the legal framework for the digital economy, improving digital infrastructure including budget allocation.

Sharing Indonesia's experience, the Indonesian delegate said that Indonesia has laws for digital transformation and digital technology, which regulate the expansion of broadband, the protection of public interests and legitimate rights of people, workers, and businesses, the enhancement of connectivity, and the promotion of digital transformation. Indonesia also has specific strategies such as the development of strong digital infrastructure, the enhancement of digital capacity, sustainable growth, etc., to gradually transform Indonesia from a "digital consumer" country into a "digital content creator" country.

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