HANOI, June 30 (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.

- - - -

FINANCIAL NEWS:

VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- The State Bank of Vietnam will neither let domestic commercial banks lose liquidity nor have to force them to merge with others, Deputy Governor Tran Minh Tuan said.

- - - -

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Vietnam's state-run ship builder Vinashin has sought government approval for a project to develop a north-south cargo and passenger fleet at an investment of 19.6 trillion dong ($1.2 billion) which envisages six vessels to be bought by 2011 for the transport.

- - - -

LAO DONG

-- There is still a large gap between the exchange rate offered by banks and that on the black markets even though the central bank has doubled the dollar/dong trading band to +/- 2 percent from June 26, allowing banks greater room in trading.

- - - -

TUOI TRE

-- Partly private Viet A Bank has raised the interest rate on gold deposits to 7.2 percent for 12-month term.

- - - -

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Hanoi-based banks raised 367.8 trillion dong ($22.3 billion) as at the end of June, a 2.12 percent increase from the same period last year, the city's statistics office said.

-- The State Securities Commission has sought to tighten regulations on the establishment of fund management companies. Such a new firm would need to have two founding shareholders owning at least 65 percent of stake instead of 20 percent as now.

- - - -

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

-- Vietnam's shortage of skilled labourers is a great concern for the government despite higher employment rates in the first half of this year, the Labour Ministry said. It said more than 780,00 people have found jobs during the first six months, 45.9 percent above the target for the period.

-- U.S. company General Electric <GE.N> has pledged a long-term investment in Vietnam and has been talking with Vietnamese firms on setting up an aircraft engine repair and water filtering technology plant, GE Vice Cairman John Rice told Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi last Friday.

- - - -

NHAN DAN

-- Vietnam projected to doubled its cocoa acreage to 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) by 2010, the Agriculture Ministry said. Last year it harvested 300 tonnes of cocoa beans after farmers started growing the new commodity crop a few years ago.

- - - -

QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- More than 20,000 people mostly in Vietnam's southern provinces have contracted dengue so far this year, 20 of them have died, the Health Ministry said.

- - - -

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Ho Chi Minh City's industrial production during the first half of this year rose an estimated 13.4 percent from the same period last year.

- - - -

THANH NIEN

-- Foreign tourist arrival in the central city of Danang in the first half of 2008 rose 10 percent from a year ago to 640,000 people, most of whom are Laos and Thai nationals.

- - - -

DAU TU

-- Malaysian developer Berjaya Land Bhd <BLAD.KL> group has received a licence to invest up to $3.5 billion in a new urban area in Ho Chi Minh City. The company plans to start construction by the end of this year.

- - - -

AlertNet news is provided by