Malaysia, Thailand agree to travel lanes for the fully vaxxed

Malaysia and Thailand have agreed in principle to implement air, land and sea Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) to facilitate the movement of people between the two countries.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the related ministries and agencies would be holding discussions on the details of the SOPs to reopen the border soon via the 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 the 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 assist to revive the economic and business network between the two sides especially in the tourism sector,” he said at a joint media conference after a meeting with his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Ismail has been on a three-day official visit to Thailand since yesterday on the invitation of Prayuth.

The official visit is part of his familiarisation tour of Southeast Asian countries since he was appointed as prime minister in August 2021.

In the meeting with Prayuth, Ismail said both prime ministers also discussed the construction of a second friendship bridge across Rantau Panjang and Sungai Golok, and the expedition of a new bridge for Pengkalan Kubor to Tak Bai.

“We both agree for the related agencies to expedite the construction of the projects to facilitate the movement of people and goods between the two countries,” he said.