PRESS RELEASE

Top Vietnamese Monetary Officials Return from United States Study Tour

June 12, 2007

Hanoi, June 12 — A dozen senior banking, finance and government officials have returned from New York following two weeks of study and exchanges on the legal framework and practice of banking, credit, deposit insurance, regulation and oversight in the United States and Hong Kong.

The delegation was led by State Bank of Vietnam Deputy Governor Nguyen Dong Tien and Ministry of Internal Affairs Vice Minister Dang Quoc Tien, and included key officials from the State Bank, Ministry of Finance, Office of Government, Communist Party and National Assembly. The tour was supported by the United States Agency for International Development and was organized by Star-Vietnam and the U.S. Vietnam Trade Council Education Forum.

The purpose of the study tour was to evaluate the U.S. banking system in order to develop Vietnam's banking sector in the global economy.  Delegates met with senior U.S. officials from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. Treasury, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Senate's banking oversight committee. Meetings were held in San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., where topics of discussion included banking policy implementation and enforcement, combating financial crimes and terrorist funding, and strategies for stabilize overheated stock markets.

The group also met with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Hong Kong Institutes of Bankers to discuss structure, governance and transparency.