BANGKOK: Malaysia and Thailand have agreed in principle to implement air, land and sea Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) to ease the movement of people of the two countries.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the related ministries and agencies would be holding discussions on the details of the standard operating procedure (SOP) to reopen the border soon via VTL and Test & Go scheme.
“For a start, we can implement the Air VTL between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok for travellers who are fully vaccinated. We will also consider adding other destinations in future.”
“The VTL scheme will also be expanded to open land borders via Bukit Kayu Hitam-Sadao as well as all CIQ in the north of the peninsula and southern Thailand and the sea VTL between Langkawi and Satun.”
“This will certainly assist to revive the economic and business network between the two sides especially in the tourism sector,” he said in a joint media conference after a restricted meeting with Prayuth yesterday.
Ismail Sabri is on a three-day official visit to Thailand since yesterday on the invitation of Prayuth.
The official visit of Ismail Sabri is part of his familiarisation tour of South-east Asian countries since he was appointed prime minister in August 2021.
In the meeting with Prayuth, Ismail Sabri said both prime ministers also discussed the construction of a second friendship bridge across Rantau Panjang and Sungai Golok, and a new bridge for Pengkalan Kubor to Tak Bai be expedited.
“We both agree that the related agencies expedite the construction of the projects to facilitate the movement of people and goods between the two countries,” he said.
Malaysia and Thailand have established diplomatic ties for 65 years since Malaysia became independent in 1957. – Bernama
