Deputy Minister Khu said that the nation has taken part in a programme to identify ways of protecting privacy in APEC e-commerce. This will help Vietnam to create effective privacy-protection policies in line with the country’s situation and help it to avoid barriers to the flow of information.

The seminar, co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Centre for Information Policy and Leadership (CIPL), is part of a number of activities to bring in a programme on privacy protection in e-commerce among APEC member economies.

The US Ambassador to Vietnam, Michael Michalak, emphasised the importance of the seminar’s theme, saying that it will help Vietnam and other countries worldwide to build a typical e-commerce model.

Ensuring safety and privacy will open up more e-commerce opportunities, attract investment and help to raise living standards in Vietnam and other APEC member economies, the US diplomat said.

Experts from Australia, the Philippines and the US also discussed issues relating to privacy protection in Vietnam, the safety of information and the APEC privacy framework. Although Vietnam is ranked poorly in e-commerce, e-commerce has already been widely applied in enterprises across the country, said the ministry. The number of enterprises that have websites rose from 31 percent in 2005 to 45 percent in 2008 and 99 percent of businesses are connected to the Internet.