KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has been given the green-light by Indonesia over a Reciprocal Green Lane/Travel Corridor Arrangement (RGL/TCA) travel bubble between both nations.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the travel bubble initiative is one of the ministry's tourism and culture recovery plans formulated last July as part of the measures to revitalise the sector.
She thanked Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for securing the deal with Indonesia during his two-day visit to the Asean country, which concluded on Friday.
"The ministry has held discussions with the Health Ministry; Home Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry to explore opportunities by creating travel bubbles with neighbouring countries such as Brunei; Singapore and Thailand or Asean countries and Asia Pacific countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand which have been identified as safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"Its implementation, however, is subject to bilateral discussions and considerations based on the aspects of health, immigration, data tracking, and ongoing monitoring by relevant agencies in both countries," she said in a statement today.
Nancy said Malaysia had also proposed for transparency and standardisation of cross-border Standard Operating Procedure issued by safe countries to ease travelling.
She said it included taking into account views from the health agencies of each respective countries.
In December last year, the Minister told the Dewan Rakyat during her winding-up speech on the 2021 Budget at the committee stage that the ministry was exploring the possibility of having travel bubble arrangements with green zone countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said the ministry had held discussions with several government agencies and tourism industry players' representatives to identify mechanisms to reopen cross-border tourism activities in a safe and systematic manner.