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Systems and Infrastructure (CGSI), Public Service Delivery (PSDI), Digital Citizen Engagement
(DCEI), and GovTech Enablers (GTEI). Based on these indicators, countries are classified into
four groups ranging from A (high maturity) to D (low maturity) (World Bank, 2025).
According to the GovTech Dataset (December 2025), Vietnam records a GTMI score
of 0.736 on a 0–1 scale, placing it in Group B. This classification suggests that the country
has made notable progress in GovTech development but has not yet reached a high level
of maturity. A closer look at the index components reveals relatively strong performance
in GovTech Enablers (GTEI = 0.861) and Public Service Delivery (PSDI = 0.825), reflecting
improvements in policy frameworks, digital strategies, and the expansion of online public
service platforms.
However, the Digital Citizen Engagement (DCEI) component remains significantly
lower (0.485) than in leading ASEAN countries. This gap highlights persistent limitations in
digital interaction mechanisms, open data initiatives, and citizens’ participation in the co-
creation of public services.
Table 3. GovTech Maturity Index 2025 and its components for selected ASEAN countries
Country Group GTMI CGSI PSDI DCEI GTEI
Singapore A 0.927 0.848 0.960 0.947 0.951
Malaysia A 0.848 0.869 0.886 0.753 0.883
Thailand A 0.832 0.798 0.821 0.797 0.911
Indonesia A 0.840 0.825 0.872 0.832 0.832
Vietnam B 0.736 0.774 0.825 0.485 0.861
Philippines B 0.715 0.749 0.709 0.615 0.789
Source: World Bank, GovTech Dataset (December 2025) and GovTech Maturity Index 2025.
These findings highlight an important point within the logic of the analytical
framework. Although Vietnam has achieved a relatively strong position in terms of e-
government development (EGDI), its GovTech capacity—particularly in the whole-of-
government approach and digital citizen engagement—remains uneven. The disparity
among the index components, especially the gap between GTEI and PSDI on the one hand
and DCEI on the other, suggests that GovTech development in Vietnam has largely
focused on building technological platforms and expanding digital service delivery. In
contrast, mechanisms that enable feedback data, open data access, and citizen
participation in the co-creation of public services remain relatively underdeveloped.
From a broader perspective, this imbalance has important implications for the next
stage of digital transformation. As governments move toward data-driven and AI-enabled
governance, the GovTech layer functions as an intermediate infrastructure linking e-
government foundations with the deployment of AI applications in the public sector.
When GovTech capabilities remain uneven—particularly in cross-agency data governance
and digital interaction mechanisms—the adoption of large-scale data analytics or AI
systems becomes considerably more difficult, even when the underlying digital
infrastructure is relatively well established.
This observation highlights the importance of examining the third layer of the
framework—AI readiness—which reflects the institutional and technological capacity
required for the adoption of artificial intelligence in public governance.
Layer 3 – AI readiness in the public sector: Vietnam has improved its ranking but
still faces limitations in its technology ecosystem
To evaluate the third layer of the analytical framework—the readiness for deploying
artificial intelligence in the public sector—this study employs the Government AI
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