PUTRAJAYA OCT.28: The permit to travel from one country to another within ASEAN will probably be implemented in stages starting with the neighbouring countries if not throughout the region.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said, the ASEAN leaders have spoken on the permit to travel from one country to another and countries involved in the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework are working closely on the plan.
Saifuddin said, everybody is proactive to reopen the borders but have to comply with strict standard operating procedures (SOP) as the COVID-19 pandemic is still around.
“As for Malaysia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is expected to announce on the point to point travel in the coming few days.
Meantime both Malaysian Minister of Health and Singapore Minister of Health are discussing on this matter.
“On my visit to Indonesia recently, I have discussed with the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi about the travel permit including the ASEAN Chief Secretary and the permanent representatives in the ASEAN Secretariat. Everybody wants it to happen the soonest especially countries with shared borders,” Saifuddin said at the press conference held virtually here today.
Saifuddin said that in conjunction with the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits held from 26-28 October 2021 via video conference.
Regarding Myanmar was not represented at the Summits, Saifuddin said, the media should follow the statement from Brunei Darussalam as the Chair and beyond that Myanmar is still a valued member of ASEAN Family.
According to Saifuddin, the Myanmar issue was not discussed on ASEAN Chair but as a member everyone upholds to the Five -Point Consensus and the people of Myanmar is the prime concern of ASEAN.
“Next year Cambodia will be the Chairman of ASEAN and all leaders are expecting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope to be present physically at the meeting,” Saifuddin said.
Responding to the significance of the ASEAN Summits to ASEAN and global economy, Saifuddin said, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summits were still being held and almost all the leaders talked about digital economy including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who mentioned the importance of digital economy in all his interventions.
Saifuddin said, ASEAN is consistently upholding the principle of cooperation and good relationship with others and had encouraged the dialogue partners including few super-powers where they participated well and showed good signs of multilateralism. – Malaysia World News
