PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - July 27

Fri Jul 27, 2012
 

HANOI, July 27 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- The government said it plans to merge the stock exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to form the Vietnam Stock Exchange, and the State Securities Commission has been drafting a plan for the merger.
- Foreign investment inflows into Vietnam's stock markets were $50 million to $60 million in the first half of this year, compared with $240 million in the same period in 2011 and $1 billion in 2010, State Securities Commission Chairman Vu Bang said.

LAO DONG
- A subsidiary of Germany's third-biggest insurer Talanx has agreed to pay 560 billion dong ($26.8 million) to increase its stake in Vietnam's PVI Holdings to 31.82 percent from 25 percent, PVI said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS (vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn)
- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Haiphong city authority to make sure the Lach Huyen international port project to be completed in 2016. The first phase of the project has an investment of $1 billion.

NHAN DAN
- Police investigators said they have detained the former chief financial officer of state firm Vinalines for intentional wrongdoings that caused serious losses to the state, and also pressed similar charges against six others people, including officials of Vinalines and customs department.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG
- Eight people, including four children, have been confirmed dead or missing due to floods caused by heavy rains after a typhoon in northern provinces in the past week, provincial authorities said.

HANOI MOI
- Bird flu has infected more than 3,100 ducks in the northern port city of Haiphong, and animal health workers have to slaughter 22,440 ducks in four farms, the Animal Health Department said. Three provinces are now on Vietnam's bird flu watch list, including Quang Binh and Hai Duong.

LAO DONG
- President Truong Tan Sang and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to an early start of negotiations for a free trade agreement to boost bilateral trade.

TUOI TRE
- Ho Chi Minh City-based businesses have unsettled corporate tax so far totalling 11 trillion dong ($527.3 million), the city's taxation department said.

DAU TU
- Pomina Steel Corp said it has opened the $300-million Pomina 3 steel plant in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau which has an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes, making it the country's largest in construction steel products. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)