BANGKOK FEB.25:- Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to reopen their national borders soon via the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) for Malaysia or Test & Go for Thailand.
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said, Malaysia could start by implementing the Air VTL between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok for fully vaccinated travellers and subsequently will consider to add more destinations in future.
“The VTL will also be extended with the opening of the land borders via Bukit Kayu Hitam –Sadao including all CIQ in the north of the Peninsular and South Thailand, and Sea VTL between Langkawi-Satun.
“This will help to recover the economic networks and businesses between both parties especially in tourism sectors,” Ismail said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha held here today.
Ismail is on his three day visit to Thailand on the invitation of the Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha from 24-26 Feb.2022.
Ismail also mentioned that he has discussed with his counterpart on the building of the second friendship bridge crossing Rantau Panjang-Sungai Golok and new bridge for Pengkalan Kubor-Tak Bai to be built the soonest.
According to Ismail, both parties have agreed that the related agencies should speed up the building of the projects for the smooth flow of the peoples’ movements and commodities between the two countries.
“Both of us have also reiterated our commitments to elevate the Malaysia-Thailand cooperation under the IMT-GT framework especially via the implementation of the Physical Connectivity Project (PCP) and the importance of cooperation in Agriculture and Agro Based Industry, tourism, halal products and services to realize the IMT-GT Vision 2036,” Ismail said.
Regarding the memberships of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in the International Rubber Council (ITRC) Ismail said, he has raised the offer proposal (supply) of rubber in each country to be monitored so as to benefit the member countries and also the small rubber planters.
“Both of us have also touched briefly on other bilateral issues. In the efforts to recover the economy, both of us are committed to continue to cooperate closely to reach the bilateral trade amounting to USD30 billion in 2025.
“For this objective, we hope that the third Joint Trade Committee Meeting (JTC) at the ministerial level could be held the soonest possible,” Ismail said.
Apart from that Ismail said, both of them have agreed that each country should explore new investment opportunities. Thailand investors could explore new sectors in Malaysia such as digital economy, green economy and circular economy while Malaysian investors could invest in BioCircular Green Economy (BDG) and other new sectors such as vaccine research and development , electric and smart vehicles, automation and robotic in Thailand.-Malaysia World News
