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On Friday, I attended lunch with Eurocham (the European Chamber of Commerce), where Deputy Governor of the State Bank Binh set out Vietnam's plan for the economy in the current global uncertainty.

On Friday, I attended lunch with Eurocham (the European Chamber of Commerce), where Deputy Governor of the State Bank Binh set out Vietnam's plan for the economy in the current global uncertainty. As Ashok Sud, Vice President of Eurocham and Head of Standard Chartered Bank in Vietnam, explained the next few months will be a difficult time for economies throughout the world. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken a leading role in responding to the current world economic difficulties, and has made a number of proposals about how countries can cooperate to progress together. For more details look at his website and that of the Treasury, the UK finance ministry. There is also an article by the international economics expert, Paul Krugman in the New York Times a few days ago which is worth reading. And of course, it’s worth checking the Financial Times. Also, the latest edition of the Economist has an article which looks at how the emerging world is likely to be affected by the current events.

I also visited the Hanoi Foreign Trade University on Friday to open a new business studies course which they have begun together with the University of Bedfordshire. This will be taught in English, with three years in Hanoi one in the UK.

And on Saturday we had a great football game with the Vietnam Investment Review. It ended 2-2. I was really pleased with the way our team played. My son Alec was lucky enough to score both our goals (one from a cross from me!). We had a good time in the Bia Hoi afterwards too, and hope to play the Vietnam Investment Review team again in December. They were a very friendly team, who also played well –including a very tall striker from Ireland! The only sad part was that this was the last time for two of our players - Quang, one of our drivers, who will be moving to Northern Ireland to live with his wife Ruth (who also works in the Embassy) and Wai Kit Ho who has been one of our best players and is now moving to work in the trade and invest section in the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. We'll miss them, but I hope they will still come back to see us from time to time.

- Mark Kent, British Ambassador to Vietnam