(SGT-HCMC) HCMC authorities will gather at a seminar today to discuss ways of mobilizing capital for communications and transport projects due to get under way in this decade, an official said.

Ha Noi - The southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City needs around 200 trillion VND for urban transport development projects between now and 2010, but its budget can meet only 5-6 percent of that amount.

(SGT-HANOI) Senior officials at a review meeting in Hanoi yesterday hailed the Customs Law for facilitating import and export operations but said there remained problems with it.

More than 90 percent of the volume of the country's import and export goods have been shipped, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communication.

Vietnamese exports in 2003 were successful, with total earnings of US$19.843 billion, up by 18.8 percent against 2002, of which the foreign investment sector grew by a record 27.1 percent.

Vietnam started calculating import taxes based on the invoice prices from December 29, 2003, in compliance with principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), but not all goods are subject to the policy.

" While concern about the length and economic impact of the Iraq war continues to put pressure on the some commodities, trade figures still lifted," the GDS said

Exports are estimated to be worth around US$4.66 billion in the first three months of the year, 43.1 percent higher than the corresponding last year; of which, exports of the foreign-invested sector (excluding crude oil) reach more than $1.25 billion, ac cording to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Trade.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, Vietnam was estimated to export 200,000 tonnes of coffee, down 13.72% over the same period last year

Deputy minister of Trade Mai Van Dau said that the ministry would ensure the exportation of rice at profitable prices for farmers.