B: Gerry Neumann of England wrote: “I wish you all the best for September 2^nd, the National Day of Vietnam, and also congratulate VOV on the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Voice of Vietnam on September 7^th, 1945. I hope that the broadcasts will continue for many more years with news and so many excellent features that give listeners an insight and understanding of Vietnam, its people and culture.”

A: Pradip Chandra Kundu of India wrote: “Greetings to all Vietnamese people on the 69^th National Day. Also special greetings to all of you in VOV on your founding anniversary on September 7^th. Your dedicated staff are doing an excellent job. For this VOV has become so popular today among worldwide radio listeners. Keep up the good work, friends!”

A greeting card for VOV's 69th founding anniversary from Truong V. Dinh, Fresco, CA, USA

B: Listener S.B. Sharma of the SBS World Listener Club of India listened to VOV on September 3 on 7280 khz. He wrote: “As you announced, VOV Radio is celebrating its 69th anniversary. Many congratulations and good wishes to VOV national radio. The report with statistical data on the economic growth of Vietnam impressed me very much. I heard that news report attentively and was thinking about how this small country is marching ahead despite so many difficulties. Really, no praise is enough for the people of Vietnam and its leadership. In your weekly mailbag program your information on the past history of radio broadcasts in Vietnam, especially in those days of 1945, was very interesting. I learned a lot from the discussion which was previously unknown to me. Thanks for the detailed information.”

B: Thank you all, dear listeners, for your sincere wishes and support for VOV over the years. We surely will continue to improve our work to be your reliable and attractive source of information from Vietnam. We assure you that we’ll continue our service because we know we have many fans like you around the world.

A: I’m reading an interesting letter from Carolyn Lysandrou who lives in Indiana, the US. She wrote: “I have been a faithful listener to your programs for many years. I always love them very much even though I am not Vietnamese. I’m just interested in your culture and language. I’m happy to receive your broadcasts from any transmitter site that I can and remember the good old days when you were able to broadcast from Sackville. I remember fondly how you read my letter about the Sackville transmitter site closure on one of your broadcasts. Good and sad memories!”

B: Carolyn, you can read that letter again in the Letter Box for May 9, 2012, on our website at www.vovworld.vn. It’s pity that after decades of service, the transmission towers outside of Sackville are no longer broadcasting Radio Canada International to the world. Nothing else is being broadcast out of the Sackville site. The many advantages of the internet and online news and the current development trend of multi-media broadcast are undeniable. However, shortwave broadcast remains an attractive and convenient source of information and entertainment. 

Radio system by the Hien Luong river when Vietnam was temporarily divided after the Geneva conference in 1954

A: Carolyn reported listening to a VOV program on August 5^th on 12010 khz which was a Vietnamese-English language lesson. She wrote: “This broadcast was very good indeed. It consisted of words for foods, how to order foods and the names of different foods. With this knowledge one can have a dialogue about food using the vocabulary words taught in this valuable lesson. The lesson ended at 2:30 UTC and was followed by news in English of the region and the world.”

B: I see that Carolyn listened to two programs consecutively. The first one was in Vietnamese for Vietnamese people living abroad and the second was the English program. She also tuned in to our channel again on the following days. Thank you very much for your feedback. We’ll send QSL cards to confirm your reports at the latest possible.

A: Here I have some interesting questions about Vietnam. Ratan Kumar Paul asked how many provinces there are in Vietnam. What is the biggest and smallest in area and population? According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam has 63 provinces and major cities with a total population of about 90 million people. The capital of Hanoi is the biggest city covering an area of 3,300 km2 with a population of 6.8 million people. Ho Chi Minh city ranks second in area at about 2,000 km2 but has the biggest population at 7.7 million.

B: Bac Kan province in Vietnam’s northern mountain region has the smallest population of about 300,000 people. The biggest province in size is Nghe An and the smallest is Bac Ninh.

A: S.B Sharma of India wants to know about the central bank of Vietnam and who monitors the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and all types of interest rates of banks and financial institutions in Vietnam.

B: The State Bank of Vietnam, SBV, was established in 1951 in Hanoi. It has the function of State management of currency and banking operations, and acts as a bank for credit organizations. The bank is allowed to issue currency and conduct monetary services in the name of the Government. SBV's operations aim to stabilise currency value, help assure safe banking activities and a secured system of credit organisations, and boost the socio-economic development in conformity with socialist orientations. SBV sets the prime interest rate which is a base for banks and credit organizations to determine their business interest rates.

B: That’s a brief answer to Sharma’s question about the State Bank of Vietnam. That’s the end of this week’s Letter Box. We’ll verify your reception reports and we hope you receive our QSL cards soon. We welcome your letters at: English section, Overseas Service, Radio 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 www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.