Press Highlights Oct. 28

Hanoi (VNA) -
Current Events

· State President Nguyen Minh Triet held talks
with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on strengthening and boosting the
traditional friendship and strategic partnership between Vietnam and
Russia (All dailies, p1).

· Party, Government and National Assembly
leaders received, held talks and met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert
Fico. Promoting direct trade and investment ties between the two countries
(All dailies, p1).

· The 30th chair-level meeting of the
Vietnam-China Joint Committee for Land Border Demarcation and Marker
Planting (Nhan dan, p8).

Socio-economic Affairs

· Efforts to "rescue" the rice market. The
floor price for export is removed, while businesses are free to export and
provided with soft loans to buy rice (Saigon Giai phong, p1).

· Singapore 's business association grants
scholarships worth more than 44,000 USD to poor students and pupils (Saigon
Giai phong, p2).

· Ho Chi Minh City focuses on disbursing
capital and solving difficulties for businesses (Saigon Giai phong, p2).

· Russia press praises Russia-Vietnam
cooperation results (Saigon Giai phong, p8).

· Vietnam National Institute of Software and
Digital Content made debut (Saigon Giai phong, p3).

· Rice exports reached close to 4 million
tonnes (Lao dong, p1).

· World oil price dropped to 62 USD per barrel:
domestic businesses still take no action (Lao dong, p1).

· Standards for drivers adjusted: reducing 50
percent of the criteria (Lao dong, p1).

· Ho Chi Minh City : international
exhibition on industrial products (Lao dong, p3).

· Da Nang : Japan donates 84,000 USD to
a hospital waste treatment project (Lao dong, p7).

· Mekong Delta: more than 80 percent of workers
prefer the Republic of Korea market (Lao dong, Employment page).

· Ten-month exports of agro-forestry-fishery
products estimated at 13.6 billion USD (Hanoi Moi, p1).

· Mekong region countries work to tighten
forest management (Nhan dan, p8).

· Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group: ensuring
oil output (Quan doi Nhan dan, p1).

· Great care needed when loosening monetary
policy (Dau tu [Investment], No. 129. p1). Experts agreed with the State
Bank of Vietnam 's decision to reduce the basic interest rate, but
recommended caution in loosening the monetary policy.

· Vietnam is emerging as a focus of
attention for the Russian business circle (Dau tu, No. 129, p3). An
interview with the Russian charge d'affaires in Vietnam on the occasion of
State President Nguyen Minh Triet's visit to the Russian Federation .

· Vietnam-Russia investment: focusing on key
projects (Dau tu, No. 129, p4).

· Disbursement of foreign direct investment
(FDI) exceeds 9 billion USD (Dau tu, No. 129, p4).

· Export-import activities are falling into the
orbit (Dau tu, No. 129, p14). In the first 10 months, exports continue to
increase, while import growth has slowed down. As a result, trade deficit
reduces remarkably.

· Stock market: a week filled with pessimism,
transactions by foreign investors dropped strongly (Thoi bao Kinh te Viet
Nam [Vietnam Economic Times], No. 258, p11).

· Hanoi : property market sees slowdown, few
successful transactions (Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam , No. 258, p16).

· Foreign students "test their strength" in
Vietnam (Tien phong [Vanguard], No. 299, p1). Foreign students have to
cope with various difficulties, buy they want to study in Vietnam
because of many reasons.

· Issues regarding human resources must be dealt
with properly to absorb more foreign direct investment (Tien phong, No. 299,
p13).

· Canon expands market in Vietnam (Cong
Thuong [Industry and Trade], No. 61, p9). Canon built three printer
factories in Vietnam with a total capital of over 300 million USD,
employing 16,000 workers. Its export turnover is estimated to reach 1.2
billion USD this year.

· A race to 100 million mobile phone
subscribers: which provider will be the winner? (Cong Thuong, No. 61, p11).

· Collapse of US financial institutions: six
impacts on the Vietnamese economy (Cong Thuong, No. 61, p12).

· Reducing interest rates, "pumping" capital to
rescue businesses (Tien phong, No. 301, p1).

· What level will the VN-Index stand at by the
year-end? (Thanh nien [Young People], No. 301, p7). Many domestic and
foreign organisations have adjusted forecasts for the VN-Index until the
year-end.

International Affairs

· FED considers interest rates cut (Saigon Giai
phong, p8).

· Syria condemns the US 's attempt to
conduct "serious provoking action" (Saigon Giai phong, p8).

· Military negotiations between the two Koreas
(Saigon Giai phong, p8).

· Europe has a plot to bring
genetically-modified food into the continent (Saigon Giai phong, p8).

· ASEAN adopts a new plan of action on rice
(Hanoi Moi, p8).

· Asia establishes a foreign exchange reserve
fund worth 80 billion USD. Preventing the financial storm (Hanoi Moi, p8).

· US threatens to stop assistance to Iraq
(Hanoi Moi, p8).

· US presidential elections: fierce competition
in the final stage (Nhan dan, p8).-Enditem