Vietnam, Japan to proceed with currency swap talks
Vietnamese Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung and his Japanese counterpart Hirosi Watanabe.
Vietnam and Japan will speed up negotiations for a bilateral currency swap agreement worth some 1 billion USD to stabilize Vietnam’s currency market, said the finance ministers of both countries.
Vietnamese Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung and his Japanese counterpart Hirosi Watanabe reached an agreement about the issue at a meeting on the sidelines of the 9th Conference of Finance Ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AFMN). The conference opened in Laos on April 6.
A currency swap commits the two countries to exchange principal amounts in different currencies at a pre-agreed exchange rate at maturity and to pay interest based on those amounts for an agreed period of time. At maturity, the two countries will re-exchange the principal amounts.
Mr. Hung also proposed Japan continue supporting Vietnam on its bid to enter the World Trade Organization by concluding bilateral talks soon.
Vietnam News Agency, April 8, 2005
