This project represents a joint Japanese-Vietnamese effort to further the reform of Vietnam's fiscal and monetary policies in line with the country's transition to a market economy. In the first stage of the project last year, study groups researched and prepared policy proposals on three key themes: inflation control, reform of the banking system and creating a capital market. This year, the groups refined their research topics to wage increase and inflation, exchange policy and the role of the State Bank of Vietnam, and the stock market, respectively. Japanese participants in the project include university professors and representatives of the banking and securities businesses, while the Vietnamese side is led by policy makers from the Government Price Committee, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Bank. The participants met in Tokyo for joint Study Meetings in May and October, and in July a Japanese delegation visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to conduct surveys and meet with key figures in the Vietnamese government. Meanwhile, some 1,700 copies of a report of the previous year's Study Meeting in Hakone were published in English and Vietnamese and distributed to relevant researchers, policy makers, and organizations both within Japan and abroad.