Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday chaired the country’s first-ever government meeting using a homemade ‘e-Cabinet’ system.

The system, developed by military-run telecoms group Viettel, is expected to cut time spent in meetings by the government by 30 percent in 2019 compared to previous years, said Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung.

Launching e-Cabinet is a crucial step toward dropping paper-based documents from the daily running of the government, Dung said.

The ‘e-Cabinet’ system puts information safety and security first by using encryption standards devised by the Government Cipher Committee in storing and transmitting data, he added.

The Vietnamese government is looking to completely switch to electronic documents in its meetings by the end of 2019, with help from the e-Cabinet system.

The only exception is classified documents, which will remain paper-based for security reasons.

During Monday’s e-Cabinet meeting in Hanoi, PM Phuc held an online vote to pass a decree on electronic identification.

Twenty-five cabinet members voted on the decree using Internet-connected tablets, including four who were able to cast their votes without being physically present at the meeting room thanks to the e-Cabinet system.

Pleased with the new system, PM Phuc urged relevant agencies to complete a legal framework for the use of e-Cabinet as well as ensure anti-sabotage measures are in place for maximal security.

The government leader encouraged the system’s developers to build their own software and avoid applying foreign models without taking into consideration Vietnam’s unique circumstances.

Training personnel to operate and maintain the system must also be emphasized, the premier said.

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