Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) to quickly equitize, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Tuesday.

The corporation should issue bonds and shares to mobilize capital for its projects, and cut down the use of state budget and the Official Development Assistance (ODA) for them, the newspaper quoted Dung as saying at a meeting on implementing Vinalines' 2007 business plan on Monday.

The prime minister also directed Vinalines to focus on developing its fleet of big ships, carrying out plans on building seaports, especially deep-water ones, well implementing seaport services, and developing its manpower to ensure an 8.5-percent annual growth.

Vietnam has targeted equitization of 550 state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including some corporations, commercial banks, insurers and public utilities, this year.

By the end of August 2006, Vietnam restructured 4,447 SOEs, of which 3,060 were equitized.

Source: Xinhua