Business Letters

Hereunder is an example of a business letter which an executive or a staff member holding a managerial post in a multinational company/corporation is supposed to be capable of writing when it comes to business correspondence. Hanoi, Wednesday 23 October, 2004. From: Tao Duy Linh Hoang Chau Co., Ltd. 54 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel. (84)- 4 – 5743945/5742487 – Fax. (84) - 4 – 5742487 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Our ref. number: Mun-Sing-06 Ref: Customer’s Complaint. Dear Mr. Alex Ferguson, First of all, I would like, on behalf of Hoang Chau Co. Ltd’s staff in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offices, to thank you and Munhean Singapore Pte. Ltd for the assistance and cooperation provided to us during the recent years. As you know, the competition in the supply of early streamer emission lightning conductors and over-voltage protection systems in Vietnam is indeed very fierce. The market shares in the surge protection systems are now fought and held by many providers; in addition to Hoang Chau Co. Ltd there are numerous names known to local customers such as ERICO, CRITEC, CITEL, MCG Surge Protection, Atlantic, FURSE, Novaris, Phoenixcontact, Tercel, Precision Power, Polyphaser, DEHN, Total Power Systems etc. which try to marginalize and edge their competitors out of Vietnam, the emerging but potentially large market in the Southeast Asia. These manufacturers and suppliers have, through their sales

representatives in Vietnam, introduced sales policies aimed at drawing customers’ attention as well as winning over new customers from their competitors. These winning-overcustomers policies were designed to trumpet the enhancement of the customers’ interests; in other words, they have offered their products of high quality at reduced price with longer and more comprehensive warranty time of between 3 and 5 years, during which any defected products due to manufacturer would be replaced with the new ones and any newly installed equipment struck by lightning within a period ranging from 6 to 24 months would be also replaced with the new ones without customers’ expenses. Despite our great efforts aimed at maximising the sales and winning over new customers from our competitors, Hoang Chau Co. Ltd’s Hanoi Branch is still faced with challenges that have, in part, to do with the OBO Bettermann’s warranty policy or Munhean Singapore’s one as its sole agent in the Southeast Asia. This is part of the reasons behind our recent diminishing sales and with it comes the reduction in our orders placed with you. Hereunder is one example of our problems which we are faced with and which we would like to single out for illustration purpose, so you could understand our situation in Vietnam these days. It is about Vietnam Railways Corporation, one of our three biggest customers and one of ten Vietnamese state-owned corporations with fixed assets lying across the country, to which we have supplied on average about 100 sets of VF230AC, 70 sets of V20C/4 and 20 sets of SC-tele4/C-G each year. As recent as 5 months ago we supplied it with 25 sets of VF230AC, and we have received its written notice dated of November 24, 2004 that 8 out of those 25 sets have been struck by lightning. Within one day of receipt of the notice, we have sent our technicians to inspect, examine and assess the damages. Our assessment is that the connections of the entire 25 sets said above are correct and in accordance with the installation instructions issued with the products supplied by Munhean Singapore Pte. Ltd, and all

resistance values of each earth termination system are four (4) Ohms or less. Therefore Vietnam Railways Corporation has demanded that Hoang Chau Co. Ltd’s Hanoi Branch replace the broken sets because they have been struck by lightning within the warranty period. As for the manufacturer, the OBO Bettermann’s warranty, however, does cover only products’ defects due to the manufacturers, and does not cover the strike by lightning of the newly installed equipment supplied by OBO Bettermann or through its agents. This policy of OBO Bettermann has put Hoang Chau Co. Ltd in a very difficult situation when it comes to the supply of early streamer emission lightning conductors and over-voltage protection systems in Vietnam where competition among foreign suppliers has become very fierce as we often call it a case of “dog eat dog”. We are also aware that most of the suppliers present in Vietnam or providing their products to local customers here have adjusted their warranty policies accordingly to accommodate new demands of the market. And one of the features of their customer-orientated policy is to edge out their competitors by offering products of unique advantages among which is the offer of free-of-charge replacement of newly installed equipment struck by lightning within the first part of the warranty period. Dear Mr. Ferguson, this complaint comes at a very inappropriate time which needs our very delicate handling of the situation and which is regarded by our customer, Vietnam Railways Corporation, as a precedent for its further orders placed with us, because we are in the middle of negotiating a deal of 300 sets of V20C/2, MC50B+ and MC125B/NPE. We are afraid that if this complaint of our customer is not settled in a satisfactory manner, not only the deal currently being negotiated between us and Vietnam Railways Corporation cannot concluded, but further orders by it of early streamer emission lightning conductors and over-voltage protection systems would be lost to our competitors, that is OBO Bettermann and we will lose our

market. And this is the very thing we fear most, because losing customers will cause a chain reaction that, as you know, will spread out of our control. Our policy is to do our utmost to win over new customers and, at the same time, not to lose the old ones, which, I hope together with your support, will help us hold and gain a no-small market share in Vietnam. For all foregoing, it is our request that you consider our suggestion in relation to the adjustment of the OBO Bettermann’s warranty policy on the basis of cooperation and looking-forward spirits. We’d appreciate your time spent both reading our letter and weighing our request with all concerned factors. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon. On behalf of the management of Hoang Chau Co. Ltd.’s Hanoi Office,

Tao Duy Linh Procurement Manager. --------------------------------------------------

Hanoi, Monday 20 December 2004 From: Tao Duy Linh Hoang Chau Co., Ltd. 54 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel. (84)- 4 – 5743945/5742487 – Fax. (84) - 4 – 5742487 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Our ref. number: EMCO-01 To: Mr. B. J. Amritkar General Manager of Marketing EMCOLIMTED. Ref. Business Relationship Establishment. Dear Mr. Amritka, It’s more than two years since you last were in Hanoi, it’s also the same length of time that we’ve failed to have contacted you, but we’ve still kept track of your company’s business, and we hope things go on there as usual. Still in the introductory stage, I would like to introduce our company and its activities in Vietnam to you; we are currently involved in supply and installation of the surge protection and early streamer emission lightening conductors imported from France and Germany. In parallel with these services, we also act as the local supplier of high-medium-low voltage power cable joints as well as terminations and accessories provided by some Indian manufacturers, one of them is Yamuna Gases & Chemicals Ltd. with products of Densons make. Hoang Chau Co., Ltd, currently holds a pretty large portion of the local market in which it is involved. After 8 years of doing business in supplying, installing both local and foreign-made products of the above-said fields in the power sector, and after several years of studying the local market’s demands on further products from India among them are medium voltage transformers and switchgears… we now would like to expand our business into a new area, a further step in the right direction as we believe, which holds an important place in our company’s development policy that undoubtedly is accordance with our nation’s strategy of power industry development for the years of between 2005 and 2020 which plays a key role in securing the industrialisation process as the backbone of the country’s continuous and sustainable economic growth.

Dear Mr. Amritka, the reason behind our decision to seek contact with you and your company is the success of Indian power sector’s manufacturers in Asian Markets which includes emerging ones like Vietnam’s. The elements for such a success are the competitiveness driven by the quality, price and after-sale policy of our Indian partners applicable in Vietnamese market. We hope that this letter will find you and consequently we’ll have more information about your company, its products and an opportunity to cooperate with you for securing a new market here in Vietnam. As the marketing manager, you’re very much busy, however, we hope that you will give us some of your precious time fund to contact us. We’re also very confident that once this letter finds its way to you, it’ll usher in the very first chapter of the cooperation between our two companies for success in this potential and very promising market of Vietnam. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon. Yours sincerely, Tao Duy Linh. Procurement Manager. --------------------------------------------------Hoang ChAu Co., Ltd. Address: 54 Giai Phong Road, District, Hanoi - Vietnam

Dong Da

Tel. 84-4- 5743945 Fax: 84-4-5742487 E-mail: [email protected];

DEBA N.V.

Moorstraat 24 – B-9850 Nevele, Belgium. Tel. +32(0)9.371.75.51 – Fax +32(0)9.371.59.25 Hanoi, 6/1/2005. Y. Ref: 013447/04/PROSP/FK HAON001 O. Ref: Ack-of-rec/2005 DEBA001 For the attention of: Mr. Kin Francis Dear Sir, Subject: Acknowledgement documentation.

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First of all, I would like to thank you for your letter dated 14/12/2004 and the documents enclosed therewith. I am very sorry that I could not reply to you or acknowledge the receipt of the requested documents earlier. Your letter came to our company the day after the New Year’s Day, that is 19 days since the date of its posting, the late delivery was probably due to the holiday season in Europe. Though your mail arrived at my desk the same day, it failed to reach me that day because my family and I had been to Singapore during the New Year’s Festival to ring in the New Year down there. I would like, once more, to apologise for such a late answer. I, hereby, would like to introduce ourselves to you, HOANG CHAU Company is a private business with two offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we trade in electrical products ranging from electrical goods and lightning protection systems used in both households and industrial sector to cables, relays, breakers and switchgears as well as other

accessories used in medium-and-low-voltage power transmission and so on. We have been working as a trading house for nine years which is, of course, a relatively small time space when it comes to comparison with our foreign partners’ company’s history. All it is due to the fact that private businesses were not allowed to come into being in Vietnam before early 1990s. We are now in the middle of studying your company’s products to see if they could meet our customers’ requirements in Vietnam. We hope that things will go positive, and, if they are, we’ll let you know it and we’ll request the price quotation of your company’s products from you. In the event that things will not go as we hope, I think that it is in the interest of our two companies to keep contact with each other for the purpose of researching and infiltrating the emerging market here which, we think, is not small one, and the time of entering a new market is also of great importance, especially in the early stage of the switch of the country’s economic structure from its centrally planned pattern to a market-regulated one. This is clearly evident in the growing number of foreign companies currently doing business in Vietnam or with local partners among which are Siemens, ABB, CEET, Alstom, FCI Dribo from Europe, 3M, Cooper from America, Ultilux from Australia, LG from South Korea and Bishamon from Japan. We are very happy that our request was duly tended by you and we could not be happier with your package of documentation already reaching us now. We very much want to become a partner of yours in Vietnam and we would also be pleased to meet you at the next occasion here or in Belgium as conditions require. We wish the cooperation between us would bear the fruit to our two companies. In the meantime, we surely try to keep in touch with you Sir. Yours faithfully,

Tao Duy Linh Procurement Manager. PS. Your e-mail can reach me either at our company’s e-mail address as first written above or at my own one which is [email protected] --------------------------------------------------Hanoi, 10/1/2005 Dear Mr. Francis KIN, Entering my office today I saw your fax lying on my desk, telling the truth, I didn't expect it to come so soon, because I just asked my secretary to send a copy of my letter to you by fax late Friday morning (in addition to my e-mail message) to make sure at least one will reach you on time. And then I left my office earlier than usual that day for a business meeting downtown without coming back. That’s why I couldn’t return your fax the next day (Saturday is a workday for most businesses in Vietnam, or at least people still work on Saturday mornings). I would like to thank you for your very sincere and down-toearth idea that any commercial efforts by us aimed at having your products sold in Vietnamese market so far may not bear fruit. As predicted by some Wall Street’s chief economists US’ Dollar may further fall against Euro and Japanese Yen, and by the end of 2005, Euro might reach all time high at 1.45 against Dollar which will make our efforts to sell any products manufactured in Europe in Vietnam unrealistic, let alone taking transport costs and other expenses into account. Anyway, I am still of an opinion that keeping in

touch with you and DEBA NV is among our primary concerns. We have grounds for saying that because for international tenders held by our government-owned power corporation, EVN or Electricity of Vietnam, alongside the competitiveness of price and cost of procurement, the quality of supplied products is also of no small importance. And in this matter, as I believe, we have some common ground that products produced/manufactured in Europe and Northern America still prevail. Once more I would like to thank you for your prompt reply and we hope that our cooperation does serve our common interest and one day in near future it will reap a harvest. Best regards,

Tao Duy Linh. -------------------------------------------------

HOANG CHAU Co., Ltd. Address: 54 Giai Phong Road, Dong Da District, Hanoi - Vietnam Tel. 84-4- 574394 - Fax 84-4-574248 - Email: [email protected] SKIPPER ELECTRICALS (INDIA) LTD. SEIL POWERGEARS LTD. H.O.-F - 667 / 668, RIICO Insustrial Area, Phase - II Bhiwadi, Distt. Alwar (Raj.) India. International Division (Delhi) Tel: +91-11-26224132, +91-11-26229829, Fax: +91-1126224131 Gsm: 9810019168. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Hanoi, 12/1 /2005. O. Ref: Intr/2005/ SKIPPER001 For the attention of International Division (Delhi) Dear Sir, Subject: Seeking Contact Business Relationship.

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First of all I would like to introduce myself and our company as well as its activities in Vietnam to you. HOANG CHAU Company is a private business with two offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we trade in electrical products ranging from electrical goods and lightning protection systems used in both households and industrial sector to cables, relays, breakers, ring units and switchgears as well as other accessories used in low-voltage power transmission and so on. HOANG CHAU Co., Ltd, currently holds a no-small portion of the local market with products above-mentioned. We have been working as a trading house for nine years which is, of course, a relatively small time space when it comes to comparison with our foreign partners’ company’s history. All it is due to the fact that private businesses were not allowed to come into being in Vietnam before early 1990s. After those years of doing business with local customers and foreign partners among which are Yamuna Gasses & Chemical from India, Munhean from Singapore, E&I from South Korea, HELITA from France, OBO Betterman, and MKS from Germany, we now would like to expand our business into a new area, the medium-voltage power transmission, a further step in the right direction as we believe, which holds an important place in our company’s development policy, that undoubtedly is in accordance with our nation’s strategy of energy industry development for the next 15 years between 2005 and 2020 which plays a key role in securing the industrialisation process as the backbone of our country’s continuous and sustainable economic growth.

Dear Sir, the reason behind our decision to seek contact with you and your company is the current success of power industry businesses from India in Asian markets, especially in those emerging ones, which include Vietnam, a country with over 80 million population and a nearly untapped but potential market with its power sector, though in its developing stage, struggling to meet the nation’s surging demand for energy. The elements guaranteeing a sustainable success of a business are the competitiveness driven by the quality and price/cost of procured products or services as well as after-sale policy; this competitiveness can be secured only by a larger choice of suppliers with a wide range of products and this is the very reason that makes this letter be written and find its way to your desk, Sir. Consequently, we hope that the first chapter of the cooperation between our two companies will be ushered in for success in this emerging but very promising market in Vietnam. In the meantime, we remain dear and look forward to hearing from you soon, Sir. Yours faithfully, Tao Duy Linh Procurement Manager. PS. Your e-mail can reach me either at our company’s e-mail address as first written above or at my own one which is [email protected] -------------------------------------------------

For the attention of Mr. Tao Duy Linh Sir,

This is to draw your kind attention that your good name has been referred to us by one of our associates & in this regard we are pleased to inform you that we are a Established Export House manufacturing (having ISO Certifications) & Exporting various types of ELECTRICAL FUSES, SWITCHES & CABLES to different developed countries at a very Competitive Prices adhering to strict delivery schedule. We are also pleased to inform you that we are financially sound & the manufacturing unit is equipped with modern machineries & our all production is being looked after by experienced, technically sound personnel to maintain International Quality to sustain & grow in the competitive market leaps & bounds. We are engaged in manufacturing… We are also in a position to supply you the following products: …… We are happy to add that our Technical Department is also able to manufacture other Type of Fuses on the basis of drawings or samples provided by the buyer. As regards Electrical Cables/Connections, we give below the name of Products being supplied by us:… Now this is to draw your kind attention that our company is interested to join hands with your esteemed organization with a view to supply your requirement for aforesaid Products of BEST QUALITY at MOST COMPETITIVE PRICES & DELIVERY as to develop a long term business relationship on the basis of mutual commercial benefit. In view of the above, we look forward to serve you & also look forward to receiving your valued response & advice per return please. With best & warm regards, S.K.Paul. Reliance International. Calcutta. -------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. S.K.Paul, I have received your e-mail the day before yesterday, thank you very much for your interest in establishing contact and business relationship with us. As to us, we a trading house specializing products used in power industry and other electrical products as you already know, however, we enclose herewith a letter presenting ourselves as an attachment file, so please open this attachment, you will have more information about our company and its activities in recent years. Dear Mr. S.K.Paul, through your letter, we see that a permanent business relationship between us would certainly, as I hope, bear the fruits. There’s an increasing demand from our customers, both state-owned and private companies, in Vietnam for products of the types mentioned in your message, therefore products of high quality and at competitive price would certainly be an advantage for us in our quest for new customers and maintaining sustainable supply for our traditional ones. The information brought by your letter came to us at the right time when we are in active contact with our permanent and potential customers as the Tet festival is now coming. Tet is our Lunar New Year, the most important festive period of the year, during which we are often in a great effort to show our special care to local customers and business partners alike. We hope that the information on your company and its products will be conveyed by us to them during this very special once-a-year occasion. It is in the interests of us both that you send us the documentation on your products as well as the ones you could get from other suppliers to provide us with. Meanwhile we hope and wait for a good and positive outcome. Once more thank you very much for your letter and I look forward to the assistance that will come to us from your side. Yours sincerely,

Tao Duy Linh. ------------------------------------------------To: Mr. Tao Duy Linh. Dear Mr. Linh, A very good day!!! Sorry for being little late as I was out of town & just got back. Thank you very much for your nice mail & also we are extremely happy to note your broad spectrum of activities that you are involved with. We are definitely interested to join our hands with your esteemed organization on the basis of mutual commercial benefit. We notice from your message that our Product range has good market in your place & please rest assured that we would give you Most Competitive Proposal so that we can make inroads into your place at the earliest with your valued association. We are going to send you the catalogues for your study but that will take some time as we are reconstructing & reprinting our catalogues in order to incorporate fresh technical inputs. Before that we are going to send you the information & further details to you by mail attachments. Meantime, request if you have any ready inquiries For Fuses/Switch gears/Electrical Cables accessories, request you may please revert back with general information. Once again we reiterate that we are happy to know your wide range of activities & your company profile & look forward to receiving your message. With my best & warm regards, S.K.Paul,

Reliance International, Calcutta,India.

-----------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Eduardo Rojo, We have received your e-mail recently, despite the fact that it was sent much long ago but somehow the system failed to deliver it to our company’s computers. Thought it was truly desperate, things like that did sometimes happen against our will and I’m afraid, they continue to do so. We are very appreciative of your interest in our enquiry. Mexico is a half globe away from Vietnam, however, as history has taught us, trade knows no geographical boundary but its success or failure. And it is our belief that Vietnam shall join the WTO soon, consequently, with it shall come opportunities as well as challenges. To minimise difficulties often faced by a newly admitted member, Vietnam shall have to seek new business relations and expand its market to new foreign suppliers among which, as we believe, are businesses from Mexico, that, among a few countries, enjoys its highly skilled but low-cost labour force, this is clearly evident in the advantage enjoyed, in terms of both quality and cost, by products sourced in the world’s newly emerging economies such China, India in Asia and Mexico, Brazil in Americas. It is our strong conviction that maintaining business ties between Hoang Chau Ltd. and Driescher y Wittjohann shall, in the long term, serve the interests of both companies. Dear Mr. Eduardo Rojo, we had found your company’s e-mail address and its website in the Internet. To find more about us, you can open the attachment enclosed herewith. Anyway, we can briefly inform you of our activities in Vietnam. Hoang Chau Ltd. is a private company specializing in supply of medium-and-low-voltage transmission gears, equipment to the local power industry, however, the high voltage area has begun being of our concerns, it holds an important place in our business policy now as we begin to expanse the scale of our activities. In addition to the aspect of power transmission we also provide design and installation of voltage surge protection systems to industrial and public assets as well as private property. In parallel with being in its capacity as a local supplier, Hoang Chau Ltd. also acts as the sole sale agent or the marketing representative in Vietnam for several foreign businesses.

In the meantime we remain dear and try to keep in touch with you. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh Procurement Manager.

-----------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Mukesh, In yesterday’s e-mail to you I’ve forgotten to ask your CEO’s date of birth, please let us know it in your coming reply. We are in the middle of process of applying for your CEO’s Vietnam visa. If approved, we are very confident of that, the result will be sent via fax by Vietnamese government’s immigration authority to our embassy in New Delhi in oneweek time from now. Well, regarding your enquiry mentioned in your last week’s letter, we had called to The Development Assistance Fund, 25A Cat Linh Street, Hanoi, but we failed to talk to Mr. Quang because he was absent from work that day, however, other person in his department told us that the sum of US$27 million had already been allocated to where it should be, and that it was no use further enquiring, he also told us to call the Commerce Attaché in Indian Embassy in Hanoi for further investigation. We did make a call to your embassy here but failed to contact him. We have a feeling that, everything in connection with financial aide from overseas or bidding for projects funded by overseas financial assistance in whatsoever form is very opaque, and any enquiry conducted not through the “right channel” is not welcome. It is our opinion that they do not want us to be involved in their fund’s business for fear of having one more person to share their “pie”. And please let us know more about your company’s intention to be involved in projects or intention to do business in Vietnam otherwise we cannot be active either in our working with you or in assisting you in your business taking place here in Vietnam.

Best regards, Tao Duy Linh.”

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Dear Ms. Malathy, I sent a brief reply to your urgent e-mail message yesterday. I’m indeed sorry for having kept you waiting so long for my answer, but it was out of my hands because I was out of the country for nearly a week. Anyway, we’re really appreciative of your very prompt reply to our request, but we fail you this time, as I had already indicated in my previous letter to you that our gleam of hope was very faint because time was not on our, mine and yours, side. Dear Ms. Malathy, after studying your letter and documentation sent to me via air express service, we have arrived at the conclusion that. This time we cannot meet our customer’s requirements for the project in question, however, what have been done by you, though it exhausted you very much in terms of urgency, is worth every minute of yours and all your efforts are, as we strongly believe, not in vain. Well, I would like, now, to talk about our cooperation in the sincerest way if you don’t mind reading a lengthy letter of mine. As for your capacity to supply products for an international tender here in Vietnam, we would like you to cooperate with your customers or business partners who will join hands with you in provision of all groups of products required for one contract, in this case, in addition to the Load Break Fuses Cut Out 22kV-200A, the other groups of products, Surge Arresters 12kV and Dead-end Insulators 22kV must be included in the same supply contract. That is to say, if possible, we would like to have all groups of products required for a contract bid be provided by one and only one supplier who, in this case Fusegear, would have their subcontractors joining hands with them. This way we will have things much facilitated. The second thing we would like to talk about here is the readiness of your side to act promptly in future for other international contract bids (ICBs). For Fusegear to sail smoothly into Vietnamese market, the entirety of your products select for this market should gain the upper hand as against those to be provided by other suppliers or

manufacturers. To do so we recommend that these products should undergo the quality tests made by local Quality and Standards Test Authority in Vietnam despite the fact that these products of yours had already passed tests much stricter, accepted and recognised by other countries with higher standards system. This is rather subtle issue because next to the price, the quality is the utmost; and to have advantage over your competitors is be able show some things in store that others don’t have or are not promptly available for them to use, in this case, they are quality certificates for your products locally issued to you which it takes months or longer to get. Costs for individual product to under go and pass the required test vary differently, we’ll let you know on the case basis, but as far as we know, it’s not more than you can afford. Next is the purchase price of your products to be sold in Vietnamese market, because you are still in the beginning of the market infiltration process, the price should be very “soft”, in other words it must be very and very competitive, to edge your competitors out of their traditional market where they have already had a firm grasp. We would be very happy if you could quote all prices as CIF at Haiphong Port, the city in northeastern Vietnam that is about 100km east of Hanoi. We hope that direct talks with you will help you understand the way of doing business in Vietnam which is a bit different than in other places. For the purpose of reference and for you to have a clear picture of international contract bids in Vietnam, we include here-in-after the brief information of some of ICBs currently offered to international bidders, in which you may have interest, as well as the costs in relation to having someone representing your company for a particular project: The costs of participating in a tender incurred inside Vietnam without costs of enquiring trips to our country made by your staff includes the following: • purchase price of a tender file (Bid file cost) • overhead costs for the bid file procurement, that cover money transfer cost, communication cost, air express service; • service charge by us that includes charge by our law firm for doing a research for information needed for landing the tender in question and for their representing us and our foreign partners in a court of law in the event of unexpected development which often arises in a country notorious for nontransparent way of doing business, especially in the Southeast Asian region.

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Bid bond, the expense will be made and incurred only after your taking the decision to go ahead with the project.

The following is the information released by EVN, the bid employer, that we think may be of use for you: a/ Project for local contracting bidders: Project general description: Supply of 03 500kV Transformers and 03 220kV Transformers, and Capacitor- voltage Dividers for Large Repair. Bid Employer: Hoa-Binh Hydroelectric Plants Project: Large Repair and Equipment Supply Contractor selection method: Local Bidder Selection Capital source: Arranging by EVN Bid file publishing date: 01 March, 2005 Bid file cost: 500,000 Bid closing date: 11.00, 08 March, 2005 Bid file publishing address: Payment at the Accounting Department of Hoa-Binh Hydroelectric Plants and Delivery of Document at the Technical and Planning Department of Hoa-Binh Hydroelectric Plants Bidding Organisation Time: 13.30, 08 March 2005. b/ Projects for International contracting bidders: Supply of 110kV equipment and materials (Uploaded date: 22/02/2005 * Bid is available) Bid Employer: EVN/CPPMB Project: Extension of 110kV Thang Binh s/s Contractor selection method: International (ICB) Capital source: Arranging by EVN Project general description : Location of Project: Thang Binh, Quang Nam Province The project of Thang Binh s/s wil be installed to comprise: - High voltage equipment for one 11okV transformer feeder Out door medium voltage equipment for 35kV system - Metal clad switchgears for 220kV system., including 01 incoming feeder, 04 outgoing feeders Bid file publishing date: From 24/02/2005 Bid closing date: 9 Hour 0 Minute, Date 24/03/2005 Bid file publishing address: Central Vietnam Power Project Management Board 2 Setember Rd., Hai Chau Dist, Danang City Bid file cost: 2,400,000 Other information: This package and packages: "equipment and Materials for Extension of Dien Hong and Lien Tri 110kV s/s" will be issued and opened at the same time.

Supply of equipment and materials (Uploaded date: 22/02/2005 * Bid is available) Bid Employer: EVN/CPPMB Project: Extension of Dien Hong 110kV s/s Contractor selection method: International (ICB) Capital source: Arranging by EVN Project general description: Location of Project: Dien Hong, Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province The project of 110kV Dien Hong s/s will be installed to comprise: + High voltage equipment for one 110kV transformer feeder + Outdoor medium voltage equipment for 35kV system, including 01 incoming feeder, 01 bussection feeder. + Low voltage metal clad switchgears for 22kV system, including 01 incoming feeder, 04 outgoing feeders + Install equipment for Scada of Transformer Bid file publishing date: From 24/02/2005 Bid closing date: 9 Hour 0 Minute, Date 24/03/2005 Bid file publishing address: Central Vietnam Power Project Management Board 2 September Rd., Hai Chau Dist, Danang City Bid file cost: 2,400,000 Other information: This package and packages: "equipment and Materials for Extension of Thang Binh and Lien Tri 110kV s/s" will be issued and opened at the same time. Supply of equipment and materials, including scada equipment (Uploaded date: 22/02/2005 * Bid is available) Bid Employer: EVN/CPPMB Project: Extension in Lien Tri 110kV s/s Contractor selection method: International (ICB) Capital source: Arranging by EVN Project general description : Location of Project: Hai Chau Dist., Danang City The project of Lien Tri s/s will be installed to comprise: + High voltage equipment for one 110kV transformers + Metal clad switchgears for 22kV system, including: - one incoming feeder - one VT feeder - one outgoing feeder - one auxiliary transformer feeder Bid file publishing date: From 24/02/2005 Bid closing date: 9 Hour 0 Minute, Date 24/03/2005 Bid file publishing address: Central Vietnam Power Project Management Board 2 September Rd., Hai Chau Dist, Danang City. Bid file cost: 2,400,000 Other information: This package and packages: "Equipment and Materials for Extension of Thang Binh and Dien Hong 110kV s/s" will be issued and opened at the same time. Dear Ms. Malathy, before I leave you, I’d like to state that we’re very much looking forwards to receiving you reply regarding your opinion and comment on the above-mentioned things.

Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. Project and Procurement Division’s Head.

-----------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Mukesh Manchanda, We, Hoang Chau Ltd. Company, are very happy to have received your e-mail on representing your company in Vietnam, particularly for 110kV Quan 6 GIS Substation closing on March 04, 2005. We hope that this contact will serve us as the very start of our business relationship that would benefit both our companies in the long term. We’ll enclose a letter of self presentation herewith as an attachment file in which you may see our company’s profile and recent activities of ours right upon your opening it. Dear Mr. Mukesh, after one day of enquiry into the abovesaid project in Vietnam, we have arrived at the conclusion that the project closing time is drawing near and the project location is nearly 2,000 km away from our headquarters, things as well as business in Vietnam do not go as quick as in the western countries which include India. And this is has been substantially slowed down by our one-week-long Tet Holiday that has often been proceeded with one week before as preparation and followed with one week after as aftertaste. For all those reasons we regret to say that our effort to join you in this particular project, as we afraid, would be of little value and if you persist in purchasing the bid file, we could get it provided that further information on this project should be sent to us. However, we would like to give you some information on bidding for a project in Vietnam as well as one currently project invited by EVN, the state-owned power corporation, in which you may have interest.

The costs of participating in a tender incurred inside Vietnam without costs of enquiring trips to our country made by your staff includes the following: • purchase price of a tender file (Bid file cost) • overhead costs for the bid file procurement, that cover money transfer cost, communication cost, air express service; • service charge by us that includes charge by our law firm for doing a research for information needed for landing the tender in question and for their representing us and our foreign partners in a court of law in the event of unexpected development which often arises in a country notorious for nontransparent way of doing business, especially in the Southeast Asian region. • Bid bond, the expense will be made and incurred only after your taking the decision to go ahead with the project. ------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Mukesh, We have just received your urgent messages via e-mail very recently, exactly about two hours ago. Our receptionist also received a phone call from your company telling the same message; taking a phone call in English is still rather difficult to the staff outside our division, Vietnam is still in the transition stage when it comes to doing business with foreign partners, you know. Our receptionist understood the content of the message but talking to an English speaking person on the phone is still a challenge to staff of private businesses here because we are deemed underdogs as compared to state-owned enterprises that enjoy many things varying from credit policy to equal treatment …. so far not available to us in the private sector. Therefore the mindset of people is still biased in favour of state-owned businesses seeing them as the destination with sources of stable employment but without toil and hardship at work. In other words for the young people the government’s enterprises or institutions and foreign businesses or joint-ventures with foreign partners are high on their list of job opportunities. Well, back to your primary concerns, we’ll apply for the visa for your CEO’s visit to Vietnam by sending our company’s request with printed

forms filled in with his personal data and information as sent to us by you in your previous e-mail. The application will be approved by Vietnam’s Immigration Authority in Hanoi first and then sent to our embassy in your capital city. All what your CEO has to do is go to Vietnam’s embassy in New Delhi to show his passport and pay fee for his visa grant, after several days he shall show up again and pick up his passport and the last thing to do is to board an airplane bound for Hanoi and to meet us here in Hanoi. I would like to apologise for any inconvenience and nuisance caused to you by my absence from work place or our staff’s incapacity. I’m looking to hear from you and seeing your CEO’s in Vietnam. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. P.S. We’re in the middle of repairing our company’s headquarters, and our office is currently and temporarily relocated in a hotel downtown but all contact addresses, tel. and fax. numbers, still remain unchanged, meanwhile we really keep flying between two places, thus any delay in replying to your letters or phone calls may occur. We very much regret that this inconvenience may cause any concerns to you, and we beg your pardon, Sir, but this is really out of hand at this moment.

------------------------------------------------Hanoi, 4/03/2005. O. Ref: Intr_Emba_India/2005/001 For the attention of:

Mr. MAKHIJANI

Commerce Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of India 58-60 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tel. - Fax. e-mail: [email protected]

Dear Sir,

Subject: Enquiry of Projects Funded with Credit Granted by The Government of India On Behalf of Jaguar Overseas Ltd. from India First of all I would like to introduce myself and our company to you. HOANG CHAU Company is a private business which has been in cooperation and doing business with a variety of foreign partners among which are some from India and which are rather successful in doing business in Vietnam. Recently, one of our business partners from India, Jaguar Overseas Ltd based in New Delhi, has contacted us and requested that we, Hoang Chau Ltd., make on their behalf some enquiries into projects implemented in Vietnam funded with the credit granted by the government of India. Your name and contact address were given to us by them and that’s why I am writing this letter to you with a hope of having permission to be seen by you soon. The meeting is currently arranged by your staff, Mr. Thang; and we believe that you will spend part of your precious time receiving us for the purpose of the success of the Indian business community currently doing business in Vietnam. In the meantime, we remain dear and look forward to hearing from you soon, Sir. Yours sincerely, Tao Duy Linh Project Division’s Head.

------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Mukesh, We had paid a visit to Mr. Makhijani’s office in Indian Embassy here in Hanoi but failed to be seen by him, despite the fact that I had already sent a fax to his office informing your request and our desire to pay him a visit which was already arranged on phone by his local staff prior to our arrival; and instead we were given a rather cool 5-minute reception by, Mr. Pham Manh Thang, his local staff, who also arranged our visit. The information released by him is actually of a very little use, though his knowledge of the US$27 million credit from India is apparently comprehensive, but somehow he didn’t want to let on us by saying that he was not in the position to reveal it. Our failure to get

further information for you seems, as we understand, to be due to the lack of proper introduction of us by you to Mr. Makhijani or any official in your Embassy in Hanoi. Dear Mr. Mukesh, we did try our best to get things done as instructed by you on your side’s behalf, but to my sorry, this way of doing business has proved unsuccessful, at least here in Vietnam and so far. Please, for the better, we recommend that any further contact by us with any one or any business or any body on your company’s behalf should be carried out only after you or your company previously making a proper contact with the former and in addition to that we should be “armed” with your letter of introduction that we can use to pass every door whenever our presence is needed. Well, let’s come back to the issue of your uttermost concern, the entirety of US$27mil credit-line granted by the government of India for the year of 2005 was said by Mr. Thang in Indian Embassy to have already been allocated to where it should have gone. However, for information on the next year’s term of that credit-line, you may contact Mr. Sudhir Kumar via his email: [email protected] whose name and contact address were given by Mr. Thang from Indian Embassy in Hanoi. As to Mr. Makhijani, three days have passed since my fax had reached his office without me hearing a single word from him or his office about his failure to receive us. That denial of a proper reception has seemed to be due to our request for the meeting being at short notice, however, the subsequent silence on that matter may be deemed that Jaguar Overseas Ltd.’s weight thrown around for such a contact has not sufficed, at least the way it was done so far. I have to beg your pardon for my very sincere and too direct comment, however, your side and our company have to work more closely and in a more concerted way to lay out a different approaching strategy not only for this particular issue but for others to come as well if we do want things go positively as expected. Regarding your CEO’s Vietnam visa, we did not know his birthday, the purpose of his visit or his working schedule or his stay inside Vietnam or with whom he would meet and work with during his business trip to Vietnam at the very time of our applying for his visa, out of all those crucial details only his birthday had gotten known to us just two hours before closing time last Friday. Lacking them we did have difficulties while dealing with the immigration authority, but fortunately enough we now can rely on a local business partner of ours which will surely secure your CEO’s Vietnam visa on behalf of us sometime early next week. His entry visa shall be picked up at Vietnamese embassy in New Delhi. However, there is a small formal change due to our failure to have all above-mentioned details regarding Mr. Konanur Suryanaranappa Aswathanrayana’s personal data. The name of the real local inviter, the official company inviting your CEO to come to Vietnam, is MINH HA TRADING AND PHARMACEUTICAL Ltd., a trading house with office address at 54-bis Gai-Phong Road, Tel. 844-8525838 and its registration number: 0102003424. Mr. Aswathanrayana, if granted visa, has not to see anyone from which company or work with it. We hope that the change of his inviter does not

affect the purpose and the agenda of his trip to Vietnam except for a week of delay. Finally, we wish your CEO a successful trip to Vietnam and also hope that this extremely sincere letter will not affect our relation but make it more thriving. I’m looking to hearing from you with due respect and warm regards, Tao Duy Linh Project Division’s Head Hoang Chau Ltd.

------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Mukesh, We’ve just been given assurance from Vietnames Immigration Authority that your CEO will be granted Vietnam visa and sent via fax to our embassy in New Delhi the visa grant permit will reach there no later than Wednesday, 16 March, 2005. As to products produced in India that have been successfully supplied to Vietnamese users, ABB group has recently imported products manufactured by its joint-venture units in India that include Current Transformer, Medium-voltage Breakers-Switchgears, Circuit Switcher, Metal-enclosed Switchgear, Disconnector, Ring units. Fuse Cut-out (FCO), Fuse Link , Resin Injected Straight Joints, Heat Shrinkable Terminations and In-line Joints as well as Reactor Transformers, Medium-voltage Transformers… to supply their customers and project owners here in Vietnam. Besides the technical elements needed to satisfy the local users, the other issues around the influence and impacts on the budding process are rather complicated, you company’s sales staff or your CEO will find out when they make their business trips to Vietnam. You can also get more information about doing business in Vietnam through your fellowmen who did or do business here or through some Indian businesses previously or currently involved in projects in Vietnam. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. ------------------------------------------------Dear Madam and Sir,

I had been out of town today on a business trip. No sooner had I entered my office than I was informed of your urgent phone call and other messages via e-mail on your CEO’s visa to Vietnam. Things have been done properly by Vietnam’s Immigration Authority and permission to grant him one-time entry visa to Vietnam was already sent by fax to Vietnamese Embassy in New Delhi a week ago. The problem is that your staffer probably did not mention the name of the real inviter, in this case MINH HA COMPANY Ltd., instead of Hoang Chau, or she/he did not have the visa code number, consequently our people at Embassy there failed to find out the visa grant permission. To lessen your concerns, my assistant had, in my absence, sent you an e-mail including the Vietnamese translation of Vietnam’s Immigration Authority’s two letters, one sent to our business partner, MINH HA COMPANY Ltd which actually invites him to Vietnam on our behalf, we had troubles there with Vietnam’s Immigration Authority when applying for your CEO’s visa to Vietnam because we did not know his birthday and heard no word about his trip to Vietnam from your side. That’s why, for quickening the application procedure, we request that MINH HA COMPANY Ltd. play host and apply for your CEO’s visa, the other sent to Vietnamese Embassy’s Immigration Office in New Delhi informing it of their approval of the application and demand it to grant your CEO one-time entry visa to Vietnam valid between 10/03/2005 and 25/04/2005. We, through our business partner, MINH HA COMPANY Ltd, have been confirmed early this week that, the second letter had already reached our embassy in New Delhi. In addition to this e-mail, I had Vietnam’s Immigration Authority’s second letter sent via fax by our staff to you at the fax. number given by Mr. Mukesh just minutes after having his call from India, in which letter I have circled your CEO’s visa code number that shall be shown to the officer on duty at Vietnamese Embassy’s Immigration Office upon your CEO’s or any staffer’s of yours arrival there. Knowing that number will very much facilitate him in his search for your CEO’s visa grant permission through his computer’s database. Dear Madam and Sir, we do understand your concerns and know that time is now substantially important to you, and your CEO’s Vietnam visit has already been planned which, depending on the time of acquiring his visa, may start as early as next week. As your would-be local partner, we, in response to these concerns of yours, did all in our capacity to speed up your CEO’s visa procedure and make his Vietnam visit a success. Regarding Mr. Mukesh’s request that your CEO be picked up by us at Hanoi’s Noi-Bai International Airport to his hotel, taking care of this is, in fact, the easiest thing we can do for you now, however, as I already said above, to make his visit a success, we would like to be sent a copy of his working schedule here in Vietnam or any information relative to his visit such as when he would be arriving, where he would stay during his visit to Vietnam, with whom he is expected to work and what is on his agenda …. These details are indeed of no-small import to us, the sooner we know them the better we can assist your CEO during his working trip to Vietnam because, you know, we are in the middle of repairing our company’s headquarters which of course makes us rather busy for the moment. Well, we hope that things will go positively and smoothly for you there. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. P.S. the e-mail previously sent to you was written by my assistant, however, she did, for a moment of confusion as to what to do next, sign my name on it instead, I’m very sorry for this and please, excuse us for any inconvenience caused.

-------------------------------------------------

Dear Madam/Sir, Referring to Mr. Mukesh’s e-mailed letter dated 22/03/2005, we would like to restate our position regarding enquiries earlier requested by him as follows: We shall make a visit to or enquiry with any person or any entity on your company’s behalf either by a phone call or an e-mail or by post only after your previously making a contact with that person or entity in which you did address in writing the issue of your interest and mention our company’s name as your local business partner that shall make a visit or an enquiry on your behalf if needed. This prior contact by you will be strengthened by a letter of introduction of yours that shall be addressed and sent to us and that shall be bought by us anywhere to which we will make an enquiring visit on your company’s behalf. Dear Madam/Sir, we very much regret that we have to repeat our stance regarding making enquiries on behalf of any business partner of ours. The reason behind this position of ours is that we did, in your case, already make two enquiries on your company’s behalf, one by a phone call, and the other in person, but in both places to which we made a phone call and a visit, on the first occasion we were not given a true and sincere answer and on the second one we were denied a proper reception which any business of good name should deserve. Consequently, we are of an opinion that any further attempt by us to make enquiries in such an unprofessional manner shall be in vain and shall also be at the expense of your company because, as we do know, time is not on your side meanwhile your CEO has been waiting to visit Vietnam at the earliest. We do apologise for this strong remark, but we also hope that this is truly sincere from our side. And as you know, friends always tell each other the truth. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing your CEO here in Vietnam. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh.

-------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Joseph Lee, First of all I’d like to introduce myself and our company to you before any further probe into your company’s range of products of our concern. My name is Tao Duy Linh, I’m in charge of the Projects and New Markets Division at TAN HOANG CHAU Ltd., a private trading house specialising in building materials and items used in real property development

with 10-year experience in the local market. After years of success in cooperating with local and foreign partners from America, Europe and India, we’re now in the new stage of extension to new markets and search for new business partners in East Asia. It was very nice that we’d had an opportunity to se each other during 2005’s Construction and Building Materials Exhibition in Shanghai last week, and consequently your offer letter came as no surprise to me, however, what took me by surprise is the promptness of your offer which has taught us a precious lesson on how to do business in general and how to win the heart of potential customers/clients in particular. Now I’d like to get back to the area of our prime concern which has many to do with your newly developed product that is the fingerprint identification door locks in this case. As you have mentioned in your letter that there are two kinds of algorithms for fingerprint identification. We’ll be very appreciative of further information, especially technical details, on this specific issue with which I hope you undoubtedly will provide us at your earliest convenience. The last but not least is the financial terms of an order, the percentage of possible defective products for a 100-piece batch, the terms of delivery and payment, the warrantee policy and after-sales service as well as the basic training for a new customer’s workers for each new product developed by your company. We will certainly be pleased if the liquidated damages are also found on the contract draft that, for sure, will hedge us, both sides, against any possible but avoidable dispute over a default by any party to the contract, if signed of course. As I understand this is of great import and is very beneficial to the two sides, if we raise the issues in question very early at the beginning for the benefit of our long-term business relationship between our two companies. Dear Mr. Lee, I beg your pardon for my language if it is too direct or if it sounds a bit offensive, but I also hope that the directness and sincerity in business is something that is welcome and appreciated by any businessperson. Finally, I’d like to wish your company a big success with an enlarged market and new customers among whom is our company as well, because the security item using biometrics is indeed growing very fast in the world as you previously asserted in your letter. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. Project Manager TAN HOANG CHAU Ltd. P.S. a website of yours might be very informative and updated then please give us its address, thank you for your cooperation.

------------------------------------------------Dear Sir, The first thing in a business relation-seeking letter is, of course, to introduce oneself and one’s company to one’s potential partner, and our case is no exception either.

Before any further probe into your company’s range of products of our concern and seeking a possible deal that might be struck between us, we would like to give you a brief information on our firm and myself, my name is Tao Duy Linh, I’m in charge of the Projects and New Markets Division at TAN HOANG CHAU Ltd., a private trading house specialising in building materials and items used in real property development with 10year experience in the local market. After years of success in cooperating with local and foreign partners from America, Europe and India, we’re now in the new stage of shifting to new markets and search for new business partners in North East Asia. It was very nice that we’d had an opportunity to see each other during 2005’s Construction and Building Materials Exhibition in Shanghai last month, and consequently over a month of studying the potential market of your company’s products here in Vietnam we have arrived at a conclusion that “Made-in-China” industrial products will certainly gain a foothold in our country once people’s sentimental attachment to western makes such as US, European or Japanese brands is prevailed by the competitiveness of Chinese products. The bias of Asian people against products of local or regional makes is quite easy to understand and an age-old tradition or custom is certainly hard to get rid of, however, as true businesspeople, to tackle this thorny problem we’d better seek to win back people’s heart and not to lose any further customer of ours to western rivals by beating our competitors at their own game. What I have in mind is that after the price of a product its quality and durability are the next to catch customers’ heed therefore these features of your products must be no less equal as against the ones of western brands’ products. To be successful, as it is our belief, we must be cooperative and frank to one another at the very beginning of establishing a long-term business relationship between our two companies. Now I’d like to get back to the area of our prime concern which has many to do with your newly developed product that is a wide variety of items used in the communication and power industries such as communication heat-shrinkable products, power cable connectors, power cable branch boxes as well as cold-shrinkable / heat-shrinkable products. We’ll be very appreciative of any further information, especially technical details, on this specific issue with which I hope you undoubtedly will provide us at your earliest convenience. The last but not least is the financial terms of an order, the percentage of possible defective products for a 100-piece batch, the terms of delivery and payment, the warrantee policy and after-sales service as well as the basic training for a new customer’s workers for each new product developed by your company. We would be very pleased if the liquidated damages are also found on the contract draft that, for sure, will hedge us, both sides, against any possible but avoidable dispute over a default by any party to the contract, if signed of course. As I understand, this is of great import and is very beneficial to the two sides, if we raise the issues in question right from the beginning. Dear Sir, I beg your pardon for my language if it is too direct or if it sounds a bit offensive, but I also hope that the directness and sincerity in business is something that is welcome and appreciated by any businessperson. Finally, I’d like to wish your company a big success when breaking into a new potential market and wining new customers among whom is our company as well, in other words, this is your company, among others from China, will show the West and the rest of the world that once a sleeping dragon awakes out of a centuries-long hibernation, it will bring back its awestruck pictures reminiscent of an unparalleled civilization, that came into being two thousand years ago, and that used to be known to the world as the Middle Kingdom at the very centre of our universe. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully, Tao Duy Linh.

------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Chen Ding Ling, We’re now in the middle of promoting your company’s products, however, we have encountered with some difficulties which may be overcome with your company’s assistance. We desperately need your advertising materials, including brochures and illustration lists with main specifications of your products printed on them, as well as other materials such as slides or compact disks for presentation of your products. And one step forward making your company presence in Vietnam through our company is now very high on our company’s this year agenda. To obtain this goal of mutual benefits to our two companies, we recommend that you send us the same advertising materials as we now already have in hand but in quite a great number, say two hundred sets, so that we could distribute them to our potential customers. Besides, it will be more efficient to us if we are in possession of your product posters that can catch potential customers’ eyes. We think that in the near future our two companies may work closer together not only to promote your products and begin the start sale of such products here in Hanoi and other large cities of Vietnam. Dear Mr. Chen, we would very much appreciative of any assistance of yours which could speed up the promotion campaign. It would be better if you could meet each other in person either to talk more about our cooperation which we could not picture more clearly otherwise. We have currently planned a trip to Fujian Province sometimes next month to visit your company’s headquarters and factory. We’re looking forwards to hearing from you soon, Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. ------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Cheng Ding Ling, Two weeks ago I sent an e-mail letter to you, in which I had acknowledged our receipt of you letter and other materials you sent us by post. Thank you very much for your assistance. Also in this letter I had presented our intention to promote your company’s products in Vietnam, pictures and main features of

which are now presented by us to our customers. However, the number of customers to whom we would like to send this graphic description is on the rise, and so far, we have only two set of pictures describing your products. Any of reprint of your of materials by us for whatsoever purpose, including the good will of promoting your company products, is illegal; that’s why we asked you in our previous letter, which was sent to you about two weeks ago, to provide us a hundred of brochures, mainly the pictures of several types of gates so that our customers may imagine how the product they are going to purchase will look. These materials are of great importance to us, please understand our position in this business. Also in our previous letter, I told you that I would go to Fuzhou City to visit your factory sometime this month of the next one but due to poor weather conditions with all kinds of typhoons and floods in the coastal provinces of China, a trip of this kind is forced to be cancelled. I hope that you will excuse us for this force majeure. We are looking forwards to hearing from you, and believe that our demand is not beyond your capacity, and that this will serve interests of our two companies. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh. -------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Chen Ding Ling, No sooner had I clicked the “check mail” window in my e-mail account upon my return to Vietnam, I saw your letter that I could have replied earlier if I had not gone to southern China. Is that two weeks ago I let you know of my family’s trip to the province of Quangxi before I embarked on it? Anyway, I’m very sorry for having kept you waiting for such a long time. As to your proposal and invitation that my colleague and I would visit your company’s headquarters and your factories in Fuzhou to see the production of the products of our concern, and to have business talks with you as well as take catalogues of the products in question so that we could further promote your products in Vietnam, we are very much indeed appreciative of your sincere suggestion, we also hope that we would be able to go to Fuzhou sometime this autumn. Last week, I took my daughters to Quangxi province for a week-long vacation trip, there we visited the city of Qui Lin and the province’ capital of

Nanning instead of previously planned destinations among which were the cities of Quang Chau, Macau, and Shenzhen. If such a planned trip had been realised, I could have easily made for the city of Fuzhou for a couple of days, and consequently you and I might have a talk in person. Well, if my memory serves me right, I had already told you of my last minute change of mind. Though I failed to tell you what made me come to such a sudden decision, I’m certain that you know or may guess it. It was due to the weather forecast of a hurricane’s imminent landfall on China’s southeastern coastal provinces. The meteorology bureau would have been awarded for its doing a good job, and during our stay in China, we saw on Chinese television channels the devastation caused by the hurricane to Fuzhian province and Fuzhou, its capital, was badly battered. I hope that you now might understand our concern over the success of the journey and the safety of our staff whenever they set out for a business trip. Dear Mr. Chen, truth be told, your country, China, has become the most favourite spot in my list of travel destinations; and as far as I know, many of my acquaintance think the same. Given its unique history and the sheer size in area together with various pattern of its climate, China has remained well worth multiply visiting and exploring. In addition, the achievements and progresses made over recent years reflected in the country’s economic growth rate that is among the world’ highest ones have vaulted China into the rank of the world’s powers that the country first enjoys since the wane of China’s first emperor Shihuangdi’s dynasty. Is that an over-2,000-year hibernation of the Eastern Dragon right in the middle of the universe? And now you know there’s plenty of reasons for and opportunities of my visiting China in the time to come and of course, the next planned trip of ours to China will certainly include your Fuzhou. Well, it is of great import to keep you informed of how we are in progress with assisting you in breaking into a new market in Vietnam. We’re now in the middle of preparing a new showroom that is to open early next year, and among its exhibits, as we hope, there will be some of your products’ samples. We would like to have many things in store for our customers, both regular and potential, if you lend us a hand with the preparation. We are very keen on having more designs and patterns of those gates with remote-controlled lock now manufactured at your factory up there. For the time being, there’s no need for life-sized products, it’s my opinion that the miniatures together with brochures and posters may suffice. You can send them either by regular post service or via an express delivery one. Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your assistance and sincere invitation. I hope that we’ll see each other face to face soon. Best regards, Tao Duy Linh.

------------------------------------------------Dear Ms. Tracy Zhu, I do hope that this letter of mine would not come as a surprise to you and I would also like to introduce myself, my name is Tran Xuan Thuy, I currently work in the Project Section headed by Mr. Linh who you know well of course. Mr. Linh has recently been under considerable strain of a vast workload he has shouldered with other colleagues in the section. That’ why I has been asked to step in and take over his assignment in this area. I hope that from now on I will be in touch with you for a certain period of time or even longer as the situation may require. We’re indeed sorry that your letter came last week but stayed unanswered for a couple of days and please accept our apology for this delay. Dear Ms. Tracy Zhu, we’re very happy with the established contact between our two companies so far, and please let me on behalf of our company express our gratitude for your company’s timely fulfillment of our orders as well as your personal efforts to see to it that the business of shipment does go smoothly which we of course can’t expect better and which stand for the professional and ethical values of a businessperson. As to your company’s new products, we are now in the middle of promoting them in Vietnam, however, there’s one obstacle that, I believe, can be remedied if it is dealt with heart and soul by both sides. Though most of our customers are so far used only to western brands and makes, I am confident that they all understand the core issue of doing business: quality, price of products and their pro-andafter-sale services no matter where the products come from nor who are their manufacturers. And without further saying I hold that you think the same; Ms. Zhu, could you please lend us a hand by providing us with materials proving that the entire range of these new products destined for Vietnam market has passed your country’s tests which are equivalent to North America’s or EU countries’ ones and all of these products qualify for western standards such: IEC-898/IS8828/EN60898/KEMA ...I think that even the most doubtful customers shall give way

Well, there are still two things in your previous letters, which remain unclear to us; we would be appreciative if you could explain to us: (i)

differences in quality or technical features among the following three categories of products: inferior, medium and superior;

(ii)

meanings of the terminologies in the price quotation list with Shanghai-FOB: manual fixed, manual insert, electric fixed and electric insert in the last letter which came to us the same day but a couple of hours later.

Dear Ms Zhu, we would also like you do us a favour by sending catalogues in relation to MCB, MCCB and ELCB, ATS at your convenience for there is no rush for the time being. Thank you very much for the precious assistance and cooperation you’ve always provided and I also hope that business contact and correspondence between the two of us will essentially facilitate our companies business. Yours sincerely, Tran Xuan Thuy.