HANOI, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam will take more measures to accelerate equitization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), especially large-scale ones, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times Wednesday quoted a local senior official as saying.

    The country will speed up equitization of large state corporations, including those operating in some important fields, by offering shares to institutional investors, and encourage the equitized corporations to be listed in the local stock market, Vice Industry Minister Bui Xuan Khu said.

    Besides SOEs in the production sector, the state should equitize large businesses in trading and service sectors, and sell stakes it retains in equitized state enterprises, which either have small capital or operate in fields of less importance, Khu said.

    Many equitized SOEs operate in such fields as garment, textile, footwear and plastics with capital of below 5 billion Vietnamese dong (314,500 U.S. dollars) each, he said. The state will hold 51 percent of the stake in a large number of equitized firms, he noted.

    By the end of 2005, Vietnam had equitized 2,900 SOEs, including 2,600 whole companies and 300 affiliates of firms, most of them operate better after equitization, according to the country's National Steering Committee for Enterprise Reform and Development. Enditem