PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Feb 29

Feb 29, 2012
(Reuters)

These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors has proposed the authorities to take measures to cut interest rates.

-- Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh urged the Finance Ministry and the State Securities Commission to consider proposals by the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors to boost the stock markets.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

-- State President Truong Tan Sang will visit China in the second quarter of this year, following a meeting in Beijing between deputy foreign ministers of the two nations.

-- Vietnam exported 100,000 tonnes of rice to Hong Kong in 2011, making up a third of Hong Kong's total imported rice, a surge from less than 1 percent in 2007, Chairman Kenneth Chan of the Rice Merchants' Association of Hong Kong said.

QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- State oil and gas group Petrovietnam said it had revised up its annual crude oil production target, committing to produce 15.86 million tonnes (319,000 barrels per day), or 50,000 tonnes above its initial projection.

LAO DONG

-- The Vatican wishes to develop a relationship with Vietnam, a Vatican delegation said after closing a meeting in Hanoi on Tuesday with Vietnam's Foreign Ministry.

TUOI TRE

-- Vietnam's February steel sales jumped 56.5 percent from last month to an estimated 360,000 tonnes, but lower than an average 400,000 to 420,000 tonnes in previous months, the Vietnam Steel Association said.

DAU TU

-- Vietnam's domestic consumption of fuel and oil products this year is forecast to rise 6 percent from 2011, given an annual economic growth target of between 6.0 and 6.5 percent, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)