It is a pleasure to have this meeting in this historic capital citymore than 2,000 years old and where we may make somehistoric decision for the PHS community during these next twodays.

On arriving yesterday by plane the plane cabin crew passed ourimmigration cards… But they were all in Vietnamese which Iand many others don't read. Fortunately, Fuji-san from Willcom was sitting in the same row and he had an immigration formfrom his travel agent that had all the data filled in, but in a somewhat different format.

So I borrowed Fuji's Document and tried to compare the Vietnamese words one by one with my airplane form so Icould fill in all the spots.

When we arrived at the airport and I went to the immigration officer, he looked at my form and asked me where my children were… I said I have no children. He said that my form said that my childrens' names were Melia AndHotel. Obviously I didn't get it right.

Economists have a theory for this called the "Theory of Unintended Consequences". This recognizes that we livein a very complex world. The theory is that individuals make choices based on self-interest and economists studyhow these choices effect society as a whole… Do these choices lead to harmonious results or, unintended chaoticones…hence the theory of unintended consequences…like the I had on my immigration card.

Our meetings here in Hanoi Follow on the 19th General Meetin in Fukuoka, Japan where we agreed to set upworking groups for the next generation PHS, led by Willcom and TurboPHS, led by UTSTARCOM. Each of these isthese is established within the framework of the PHS MoU to address issues with aligning the technology solutionsof PHS with self-interests of the communities that we serve. As we make these decisions we will have to bemindful and forward looking to make certain, as best we can, that the future impact on the PHS community isharmonious and not chaos->The Theory of Unintended Consequences. This said, I know we have had the bestminds in our industry working on both of these solutions and, in my view, it is time to make decisions and moveforward… because the rest of the telecommunications world is also changing and we have the duty to beresponsible to our customers-those in Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and so forth and to ourshareholders whose companies invest money to implement the solutions. As best we can, we should ensure that 5-10 years from now our decisions are seen as harmonious and helpful to all in our community.

Today Vietnam has more than 13M mobile phone subscribers and The Vietnam Economic Times reported recentlythat more than 4 million mobile phones valued at $600M US were expected to be sold in Vietnam this year - a 50%increase over last year making it one of the world's fastest growing markets.

From November 12-19th the 2006 APEC Conference attended by the Leaders of Asia Pacific countries will meethere in Hanoi, probably meetings will be held in this hotel.

The theme of the APEC Conference is "Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity."

It will also probably include an announcement of Vietnam entering as a member of the World Trade Organization -the WTO. Our friends here in VNPT, under the theory of unintended consequences, may be making some harddecisions in the coming months in order to comply with the WTO requirements.

We live in a fast changing world where decisions made in one sphere can have unintended consequences in another.As we make those decisions at our PHS MOU meetings…let's try to make sure, that, as they are implemented,that they keep the PHS community dynamic for our sustainable development and prosperity.

Again, welcome and thank you or "com-on".