Vietnam's Finance Ministry will sell government bonds worth some 1 billion U.S. dollars on the international market this year, according to local newspaper Youth on Thursday.

The money to be obtained from issuing the bonds with maturity of 15 years and 20 years will be used to fund some large projects conducted by state-owned firms like the construction of Vietnam's first oil refinery, and the purchase of seagoing vessels.

The refinery construction started in central Quang Ngai province in November 2005. Capitalized at some 2.5 billion dollars and expected to become operational in late 2008 or early 2009, the Dung Quat refinery with an annual refining capacity of 6.5 million tons of crude oil is of significance in ensuring energy for the country, said Vietnam's National Oil and Gas Group PetroVietnam, the project's investor.

The Vietnamese government's first overseas dollar-denominated bonds, with a total face value of 750 million dollars, were completely picked up by foreign investors in New York in 2005.