Typhoon Noru is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam on September 27. Photo: VNA

Typhoon Noru to affect Vietnam’s mainland on late September 27

Typhoon Noru is gaining strength while moving westward at 20-25km per hour, and is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam in the afternoon or evening September 27, according to Nguyen Van Huong, head of the weather forecast department under the National Center for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting.

At 1pm September 26, the storm’s eye was about 580km to the east of Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.

Huong said the storm packs wind at 118-149km per hour with gust of over 118km per hour.

From late September 27, rough sea with 3-5m high waves is expected along the central coast from Thua Thien-Hue to Binh Dinh provinces.

As of 1pm September 28, the storm’s eye will be on the central coastal region, between Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai provinces, cited VNA.

Central localities are rushing to brace for the storm, including evacuating residents from risky areas.

The central province of Khanh Hoa will ban all vessels from going to sea from before 2pm September 27. The provincial People’s Committee has required local authorities to supervise the evacuation of residents from high risks areas.

Da Nang and three central provinces have also let over one million students stay home to take shelter from typhoon Noru.

Vietnam highlighted as economic, trade, and labor partner of Japan

Hosoda Hiroyuki, speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan, has highlighted the role of Vietnam as an important Japanese economic, trading, and labour partner.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc held a meeting on September 26 with Hiroyuki as part of his visit to Japan to attend the National Funeral Ceremony in memory of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

During the course of the meeting, on behalf of the Vietnamese Party and State leaders, as well as Vietnamese people, President Phuc expressed his deep condolences to the Japanese House of Representatives for the sudden passing of the late PM Abe. He also highly appreciated the late PM’s special affection, attention, and contributions to mutual ties, as well as promoting co-operation between the two legislatures over recent years.

Hiroyuki recalled the feelings and strong desire to strengthen co-operative relations during the lifetime of the late Japanese PM, while emphasising that he placed great importance on the role of Vietnam in the region and devoted a lot of effort to ramping up comprehensive co-operation.

President Phuc therefore applauded positive developments in the fields of the extensive strategic partnership, exchanges, and closer co-operation between the two legislative bodies, parliamentarians, and the two countries’ friendship parliamentary groups.

He affirmed that the country values and wishes to work alongside Japan in a bid to further strengthen the extensive strategic partnership in the lead up to the two countries' 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties ahead in 2023.

The Vietnamese State leader therefore suggested the two sides continue to deepen co-operation in multiple fields in order to follow the will of the late PM Abe, including intensifying the exchange of high-level delegations at all levels and closer co-operation between both nations’ legislative bodies.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting with Hosoda Hiroyuki, speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan. Photo: VNA

He also asked the House of Representatives to facilitate the Japanese Government’s support for Vietnam in building an independent and self-reliant economy with extensive international integration. This can be achieved through providing official development assistance (ODA) capital, as well as bolstering co-operation in trade, investment, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges.

Hiroyuki went on to outline Vietnam's role for Japan as an economic, trade, and labour partner, while affirming its support for enhancing relations, especially in infrastructure construction, ODA, and technology transfer. This will contribute to bringing Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market and increasing the recruitment of Vietnamese workers, according to VOV.

The Japanese speaker also expressed his wish to welcome National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to visit Japan in the near future.

The two sides agreed to continue to boost ties in international affairs, support the role and stance of ASEAN, and contribute to peace, stability, co-operation, and development in the region and the world as a whole.

248 aircraft registered under Vietnamese nationality: CAAV

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has registered 248 aircraft under Vietnamese nationality so far this year, up six from the same period last year.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has the largest fleet with 102 jets, followed by Vietjet (77), Bamboo Airways (29) and Pacific Airlines (14), reported VNA.

Illustrative image. Source: VNA

The CAAV also reported that the number of air passengers reached 9.1 million in September, a 9.3% decline from the previous month following the summer holiday has ended. The figure included 1.6 million foreign passengers, up 10.2% month-on-month; and 7.5 million domestic passengers, down 12.6%.

Some 106,000 tonnes of cargo went through airports this month, up 2.9%. The volume included 84,500 tonnes of international cargo and 22,000 tonnes of domestic goods, up 2.9% and 19.3%, respectively.

Increase in Russian tourists booking tours to Vietnam

Travel planning service OneTwoTrip has revealed that Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia are among the most popular destinations for Russia travelers ahead during the New Year.

This comes amid Russian tourists purchasing air tickets, with departure dates between December 31 and January 8.

Russian tourists visit the south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa. Photo: VOV

OneTwoTrip shared that the leading place among countries in terms of early bookings is Thailand, making up 38.7% of Russian tourist’s destination, followed by Indonesia at 10.9%, and Vietnam at 10.8%.

Fourth place is occupied by the Philippines at 5.5%, followed by Turkey with a share of 5.1%, cited VOV.

According to Vietnamese travel operators, Vietnam Airlines the only local carrier to fly to Russia, suspended Hanoi-Moscow flights on March 24 amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalating, with service on this route not yet resuming.

Therefore, the nation can only welcome small groups of Russian tourists who transit through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The first eight months of this year saw the country serve 14,600 Russian visitors, accounting for only 1% of total tourists to Vietnam.

Yen Bai launches tours to conquer two of highest mountains in Vietnam

Tours to conquer Ta Xua and Ta Chi Nhu, two of the 15 highest mounts in Vietnam, were launched in Tram Tau district of northwestern Yen Bai province on September 25.

The activity was held on the occasion of Yen Bai’s receiving UNESCO certificate recognizing the art of Xoe dance of Thai ethnic minority group as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and Muong Lo Culture-Tourism Festival.

Ta Chi Nhu is the sixth highest mountain of Vietnam. Photo: NDO

The trekking tour on the 2,979m Ta Chi Nhu, the sixth highest mountain of Vietnam in Hoang Lien Son Range, lasts two days and one night. The first tour has drawn more than 20 climbers, cited VNA.

Along the 10-km path to the top of the mountain, tourists will have a chance to enjoy the spectacular beauty of cloud and mountains blending with the wind and sunlight, as well as a sea of purple Chi pau flower, a typical flower in the area that blossoms in mid-September.

Meanwhile, the journey to the top of the 2,875m Ta Xua will lead tourists to “heaven of cloud”. The best time to watch the sea of cloud around Ta Xua is from October to April of the following year.

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