Popularizing national domain names to develop digital economy and digital society

(Dan Tri) - Deputy Minister Bui Hoang Phuong affirmed that the development and popularization of the national domain name ".vn" to develop the digital economy and society is an important task.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui Hoang Phuong speaks at the event (Photo: Organizing Committee).

The Asia-Pacific DNS Forum 2025 (APAC DNS Forum 2025) is an important international event co-organized by ICANN and the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, taking place from May 7-9.

The workshop is not only a place to share in-depth techniques but also a place to converge visions, promote global cooperation to develop safe and stable Internet infrastructure, especially the DNS system, and popularize the national domain name ".vn", towards an inclusive digital future and sustainable development.

Protecting national digital sovereignty in cyberspace

At the discussion session on May 8, Mr. Bui Hoang Phuong, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said: "Breakthrough in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation, oriented to 2030, Vietnam becomes a developing country with modern industry and high middle income, and by 2045, becomes a developed country with high income. An important content is to focus on developing digital infrastructure as the foundation for digital transformation.

Internet infrastructure, including DNS infrastructure, is an important component of digital infrastructure. Managing to ensure the safety and reliability of the national DNS system and developing the popularization of the national domain name ".vn" to develop the digital economy and digital society is an important task.

According to Deputy Minister Phuong, the Internet will move to a new phase of Internet of Things (IoT), Quantum Internet with technologies such as 5G/6G, IPv6, Big Data, Cloud, AI, Blockchain, Quantum computing... with an extremely large number of connections.

Many new forms of connection and new services have emerged, however, Internet resources, domain names, and the DNS system are always the identification layer - the starting point of all digital connections, playing an essential role in ensuring the reliability and safety of the digital space.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Kurtis Lindqvist - President and General Director of ICANN said that the Internet is a powerful tool to promote peace, growth, prosperity as well as understanding between cultures and languages.

He said that Asia-Pacific is a dynamic hub and driving force for the development of the Internet, and that ICANN's mission is to support initiatives that help bring more people online, overcome challenges and seize opportunities.

Popularizing the ".vn" domain name plays a role in protecting national digital sovereignty in cyberspace. Currently, the number of businesses registering the ".vn" domain name has only reached about 25% (this rate in developed countries is over 70%). Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications (before the merger) has made a breakthrough to popularize the ".vn" domain name, promoting the digital economy.

Also within the framework of the workshop, Vietnamese and international experts discussed initiatives and good practices to promote management models and solutions for developing Internet resources, Internet infrastructure, and smart, safe Internet services that adapt to the development trends of science, technology, innovation and global digital transformation.

At the same time, contribute to the effective application of new technologies such as DNSSEC, 5G/6G, IPv6, Big Data, cloud, AI, blockchain... in management, development, ensuring safety and sustainability of DNS domain name server infrastructure system; develop multilingual universality, creating a comprehensive, humane and inclusive cyberspace.

Challenges and progress of Vietnam

Talking to reporters about the implementation of the program to promote the ".vn" domain name (Program 826 of the Ministry of Science and Technology (formerly the Ministry of Information and Communications) after 1 year, Mr. Nguyen Hong Thang, Director of VNNIC said: "Program 826 of the Ministry of Information and Communications (before the merger - PV), with the coordination of the Ministry of Science and Technology, aims to increase the online presence of people and businesses, especially young people, students, business households and newly established businesses.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Thang, Director of VNNIC (Photo: BTC).

The hope is that each individual and organization will have a website with the national domain name ".vn" to build personal/business brands, increase trust, safety and affirm identity on the Internet. This not only contributes to the development of the Internet domestically and globally but also increases job and business opportunities, contributing to the development of the digital economy and digital society".

The initial results are very positive: Thanks to the new domain name space, free preferential policies from the government and the participation of national domain name registrars (providing a convenient online registration platform, free 2-year website and email hosting with domain names), nearly 100,000 ".vn" domain names have been registered and put into use.

This is a good platform for users to improve their awareness, online presence skills and develop further in the next phase.

According to Mr. Thang, Resolution 57 of the Politburo focuses on developing breakthroughs in science and technology, innovation and national digital transformation. As the agency managing and promoting the use of Vietnam's Internet resources, VNNIC hopes to effectively apply Internet resources to this goal.

The two main orientations of VNNIC include:

Mastering technology: Ensuring that Vietnam's Internet infrastructure, Internet resources (national domain names, IP addresses), national DNS system, and national Internet exchange stations (VNIX) are safe, sustainable, and owned by Vietnam.

Boost your online presence: International research shows that places with more broadband Internet access and more business/residential websites have higher per capita incomes (one study found a 7% increase).

In the coming time, VNNIC will continue to effectively implement Program 826 to popularize the national domain name ".vn" and digital services owned by Vietnam to people and businesses (especially the young generation, newly established businesses, cooperatives, and business households).

After 2025, VNNIC hopes that this program will be expanded and extended with more preferential subjects and support services, aiming at the goal that every enterprise, business household, and citizen will have their own website with a national domain name, building a safe, reliable, sovereign digital space with a national brand.

VNNIC's goal is to reach 1 million .vn domain names by 2025. This is a challenging figure, because when this target was set, Vietnam only had more than 500,000 domain names. Currently, we have reached 660,000 domain names, meaning we need about 340,000 more domain names by the end of this year.

The national brand and the "Make in Vietnam" program have spread widely, helping the ".vn" domain name have good recognition.

However, Mr. Thang said that there are still many challenges when it comes to popularization, especially in remote areas, the biggest barrier is that people's digital skills are still limited.

"With the participation of the People's Committees of provinces and cities, the Department of Science and Technology as the focal point. VNNIC applies the method of piloting and then expanding, for example in Dong Thap, coordinating with the Department of Science and Technology, going down to the wards, communes, districts, with the community digital technology team, youth to each house, business household, university to organize workshops.

The results in Dong Thap were very successful with 8,000 business households registering websites from zero. Students also responded very well," Mr. Thang proposed the solution.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/pho-cap-ten-mien-quoc-gia-de-phat-trien-kinh-te-so-xa-hoi-so-20250508161034269.htm