PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - May 21
HANOI, May 21 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories.
FINANCIAL NEWS:
TUOI TRE
-- Asia Development Bank has signed agreements with eight Vietnamese lenders, including listed Sacombank STB.HM, Asia Commercial Bank ACB.HN and state-run Agribank, to help the banks boost funds for loans to businesses in international trade.
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- Saigon Securities Incorporation SSI.HM denied a rumour that the brokerage was offering bonus shares to existing shareholders at a high rate as part of a fundraising to increase its registered capital.
ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
NHAN DAN
-- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will pay an official visit to South Korea on May 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Dung is on a working visit to Tokyo this week.
HANOI MOI
-- At least 15 provinces and cities have reported cholera cases, the Ministry of Health said.
-- About 7,100 people have entered Vietnam from the United States and Mexico since April 25 but none had been detected to be infected with H1N1 virus, the Ministry of Health said.
-- A court in Hanoi is expected to sentence six former police officers to between seven to 20 years in jail for protecting drug gangs in Hanoi.
-- The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said it would not grant licences to start-up airlines until after 2015 to ensure the viabiblity of existing carriers.
THANH NIEN
-- Vietnam now has nearly 8,600 hotels and guest houses with a total of 180,000 rooms, but only 261 such facilities rank between three and five stars, the Vietnam Tourism Administration said.
TUOI TRE
-- Vietnam should not establish new airlines, given it has licensed for six airlines so far but only four of them are operational, Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, told a seminar on Wednesday.
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- The Daklak provincial People's Committee has sought approval from the Finance Ministry and the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association to reduce the fee charged on each tonne of export coffee to $0.2 from $0.5 now to boost sales. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)
