PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - March 31

HANOI, March 31 (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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FINANCIAL NEWS:

THANH NIEN

-- Dragon Capital fund's investment plans in Vietnam have a medium to long-term strategy that has not changed because of stock market declines, fund manager Dominic Scriven said.

-- The government's investment arm, the State Capital Investment Corporation will establish a separate share buying account to prop up the gloomy stock market, Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh said.

-- Vietnamese economists say investors should not rush to stockpile gold despite a sharp drop in the price last week amid wild fluctuations on the international market.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Sales of shares and bonds increased last week despite the market regulators adopting a tighter intraday trading band. Foreign investors sold three times more on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange .VNI and nearly double on the Hanoi Securities Trading Center .HASTCI from the previous week.

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VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- Foreign investors are speculating that short-term government bonds will bring in higher yields because of higher interest rates in Vietnam than in the rest of the region and the Vietnamese dong appreciates against the dollar.

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ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

THANH NIEN -- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung outlined plans to cut fuel and energy costs, reduce government spending by 10 percent and freeze prices of essentials to help an economy buffeted by the world slowdown, the falling U.S. dollar and high global commodity prices.

-- 'Blue ear disease' has re-emerged after being contained for four months, with several outbreaks among pig stocks in the central province of Ha Tinh, the Animal Health Department said.

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VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- Foreign direct investment projects increased 43 percent in the first quarter to $5.1 billion compared with the same period last year, despite double-digit inflation and surging labour and material costs.

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VIETNAM NEWS

-- Six leaders met in Laos for the Greater Mekong sub-region summit to discuss ways to improve cooperation and develop trade and investment.

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-- Southern provinces should brace for unusual rains, storms and big floods for the rest of 2008 because of the La Nina and El Nino phenomenon, said Le Thi Xuan Lan, deputy head of the Southern Hydrology and Meteorology Forecasting Station.

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QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- The Vietnam-Laos Power Company has signed an agreement with the Lao government to invest $441 million in building the upper level of the 290-megawatt Sekaman Hydro Power Plant 1 and 32-megawatt Sansay Power Plant. The project is slated to generate electricity for sales to Vietnam and Thailand after 2013.

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TUOI TRE

-- Malaysia's Titanium Management Co would build a tram system in Ho Chi Minh City with a Vietnamese company under the build-operate-transfer plan, the municipal authorities said in accepting proposals by the city's Transport Department.

-- Students will be able to borrow money at low interest rates while the government will keep tuition and hospital fees stable, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung wrote in an article.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- The Finance Ministry has signed an agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation on a loan to survey and draft the Giap Bat-Gia Lam overhead rail line project.

Investment in the whole project is estimated at 19.7 trillion dong ($1.23 billion).

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DAU TU

-- Authorities plan a crackdown on tobacco smuggling from April 1 to June 30 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on a trial basis before a nationwide campaign starts on July 1.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)