PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - March 21

HANOI, March 21 (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.

- - - -

VIETNAM NEWS

-- Sacombank Leasing, an unit of Sacombank STB.HM, has secured a 5-year, $8 million loan from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)

- - - -

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Exports of aquatic products are expected to reach $4 billion this year, government officials said.

-- The military-run mobile phone operator Viettel Mobile has cut tariffs for local calls in Ho Chi Minh City by nearly 40 percent as it moves to increase the number of subscribers.

- - - -

TUOI TRE

-- High inflation has caused the cost of investing in Vietnam to rise more than 20 percent, an Essar Vietnam executive told an Eurocham meeting.

-- Petrolimex has sought permission to build an oil refinery in central Vietnam's Van Phong bay with a foreign partner at an investment of $2 billion. The project is now pending government approval.

- - - -

THANH NIEN

-- Vietnam would start production of 2 million to 5 million doses of bird flu vaccine for humans in the next year after tests on volunteers start this month, said professor Nguyen Thu Van, who heads the vaccine production team.

- - - -