21.   Some Vietnamese companies, for their part, have recently stepped up criticism of their foreign joint venture partners, charging them with falsifying losses and evading income tax.

22.   Some foreign investors try to hide behind Vietnamese companies to benefit from the perks for private domestic businesses, the report said.

23.   Still, Vietnamese companies see the deal as promising.

24.   The agreement with Polygram is the first of this kind signed by Vietnamese companies with a Western entertainment company.

25.   The American manufacturer is one of three foreign firms to receive branch licenses so far to make cigarettes in cooperation with the state-owned Vietnamese company.

26.   The American manufacturer is one of three foreign firms to receive branch licenses so far to make cigarettes with the state-owned Vietnamese company.

27.   The Jardine Matheson-controlled company will collaborate with two Vietnamese companies, which contributed the land, and several other firms.

28.   The strategy is hard on Vietnamese companies but popular with consumers.

29.   The Vietnamese company plans to build a pipeline extension later to Ho Chi Minh City to help provide much of the electricity needed there.

30.   The United States is preparing to open a trade office in Hanoi, gladdening American businessmen eager for government support and Vietnamese companies keen to enter the U.S. market.