PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - January 21

HANOI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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VIETNAM NEWS

-- Trade between Vietnam and Cambodia is expected to double to $2.3 billion by 2010 from $1.1 billion last year, trade officials said. Vietnam mainly imports woods, rubber and tobacco from Cambodia.

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HANOI MOI

-- Vinaconex, the country's biggest construction group, said it made a net profit of 425 billion dong ($26.5 million) on revenues of 8.2 trillion dong ($500 million) in 2007. The group said it would invest 5.2 trillion dong ($325 million) in major projects this year, including highways and power plants.

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LAO DONG

-- A new cold spell is expected to hit northern provinces this week, weather forecasters said.

-- The Animal Health Department said it planned to import 500 million doses of bird flu vaccines in 2008.

-- Demand for dong loans surged in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year festival, bankers said.

-- Techcombank said it had taken a 10 percent stake in newly established bank Vietstarbank, which had a registered capital of 1 trillion dong ($63 million).

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Vietnam would cut the volume of rice exported in government deals this year to 2.5 million tonnes from 3 million tonnes last year and boost corporate sales by one third to 2 million tonnes under the annual plan to ship 4.5 million tonnes, the Industry and Trade Ministry said.

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DAU TU

-- Swedish group Ericsson (ERICb.ST) said it had established a wholly owned subsidiary in Vietnam to provide network-related equipment, technology and mobile phones.

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