A: Welcome to the very first Letter Box of 2018 on VOV. We wish you all the best for the New Year and hope to receive more feedback from you, our dear listeners from across the world.

St Joseph Cathedral is decorated for Christmas

B: This week, we received more New Year greetings from our listeners. Radhakrishna Pillai Thekkadth of India wrote: “My congrats to you and the entire team of Voice of Vietnam English Section for the remarkable and thrilling programs and colorful and informative web pages during 2017. There were many enjoyable programs from VOV last year. Your news, Current Affairs, Letter Box, Music Show, Village Life, Sunday show and Colorful Vietnam segments are informative. Your programs and web pages give me a deeper insight into Vietnam. Voice of Vietnam is doing a wonderful job. Please keep up the excellent work. I would like to hear about new competitions and contests at VOV. I would like to suggest a new program or 2018 called “How beautiful Vietnam is” which will feature the culture, traditions, and tourism of Vietnam. Wishing Voice of Vietnam a glorious and wonderful 2018”

A: Thank you very much, Radhakrishna, for your greetings and feedback on our programs. The number of VOV’s shortwave listeners and webpage visitors of VOV has increased over the past year. Thank you very much for your enthusiastic comments on our programs. They are a source of encouragement for us to continue broadcasting on shortwave and diversifying, enriching our programs both on air and online.

B: Last year we made our program available on a mobile app which expanded our availability around the world. That means VOV broadcasts and programs are now accessible on multimedia platforms. We hope that we can reach out to more listeners.

A: We appreciate your recommendation for a new segment called “How beautiful Vietnam is” and a contest on VOV. Check out our stories about Vietnam, its land and people, its culture and tradition featured in different segments on VOV. Tune in to VOV and give us more feedback.

B: Sending New Year greetings to VOV this week, Martin Smith of the UK wrote: “Greetings from a cold (2 degrees Celsius) and frost covered North Northumberland in the UK. I was so surprised and delighted to receive your beautiful calendar for 2018 and would like to thank you very much for it. At a time when many international broadcasters are leaving shortwave transmissions it’s a pleasure to know that the Voice of Vietnam can still be heard in the UK. I hope everybody at VOV enjoys their New Year festivities and wish you all a very healthy and contented 2018.”

A: Thank you, Martin Smith, for coming back to VOV. We look forward to more regular feedback from you. We hope that gifts from Vietnam will warm up your New Year celebration in such cold weather. Here in Vietnam, over the past few days it has been warm and rainy. We had great weather on New Year days, sunny and warm with temperatures between from 16 and 25 degrees Celsius. We are expecting warmer weather this week.

B: We’d like to welcome back to VOV Anand Mohan of India. In an email this week he wrote: “I’ve been a regular listener to your station since 1985. I’m very sorry to inform you that your reception has not been good. As a banker, I want to know what documents are required to open a bank account in Vietnamese banks. What is your bank rate for agriculture loans?”

A: Thank you for your comment on the technical reception of VOV. On the frequency of 12020, other Indian listeners have reported good to fairly good reception with SINPO ratings between 3 and 4 as reported by Mr. Debakamal Hazarika of Assam, India and Arun Kumar of Tamil Nadu, India and many other listeners. Why don’t you adjust your antenna to see whether the reception can be improved. We’ll forward your comments to our technicians anyway to see whether we can improve our broadcast.

B: Regarding your question about opening a bank account at a Vietnamese bank, we have checked individual account opening requirements at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, one of Vietnam’s biggest banks. The procedure is quite simple. All you need is to submit your passport and deposit into your account 50,000 VND or 2.2 USD. For the customer account service registration form, you need to declare your name, current address, date of birth, birth place, ID or passport number, address in your home country, your job, and your personal tax code.

A: If you are an American citizen and are obliged to pay tax under the US laws, a W9 document is required.

A: The interest rate for agriculture loans in 2017 ranged from 6% to 9%. The Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and other banks adjusted their rates to meet market demand.

B: Let’s continue our Letter Box with an email from Mahesh Jain of India. He wrote: “My hearty wishes on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. My favorite radio station! Always keep me updated regarding the news, views, Current Affairs, culture and tradition, technology, policies, and entertainment seamlessly throughout the year. I am really thankful to you for such wonderful service.”

A: Mr. Jain continued: “This is the best holiday around the world. Every part of the world celebrates New Year with their own signature style. As a radio listener I have the opportunity to learn about the various styles of Christmas and New Year celebrations around the globe. Each year gives us an opportunity to listen to unique and amazing New Year celebrations. The Voice of Vietnam English team keeps this occasion up-beat and keeps us all updated on radio, internet, and social media platforms.”

B: It’s so great to hear from you, Mr. Jain. We wish you all the best for the New Year and promise to keep you updated on developments in Vietnam. We’d like thank Abid Hussain Sajid of Pakistan for his New Year greeting, a poem. We’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia, Richard Lemke of Canada, and Gerry Neumann of the UK.

A: We welcome your feedback at: English section, VOVworld, Radio the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Check out our VOV Media App available on both IOS and Android platforms to hear our live broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all. Good bye until next time.