
Singapore, Thailand to speed up talks on essential business travel
The continued momentum in bilateral engagements despite the pandemic, has been welcomed by both the countries.
Singapore and Thailand have agreed to expedite ongoing discussions to facilitate essential business travel through a Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) arrangement, a press release from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has confirmed. This arrangement is aimed at strengthening the resilience of supply chains and connectivity networks, the press release added.
MFA’s statement followed a bilateral video conference on Singapore-Thailand Political Consultations on 26 August. The program was co-chaired by Permanent Secretary Chee Wee Kiong of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore and Permanent Secretary Busaya Mathelin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand.
In the conference, both the permanent secretaries reaffirmed the excellent state of bilateral relations between the countries and emphasised the importance of further intensifying cooperation with ASEAN’s partners through promoting research and development on vaccines and medicines, as well as their support for ASEAN’s efforts to fight the pandemic, keep the economies open and connected, and establish a framework to deal with future public health emergencies.
They also reviewed the good progress in bilateral cooperation in wide-ranging areas including trade and investment, defence, finance, education and people-to-people ties. Both sides agreed there was opportunity to expand cooperation in new areas of growth in the post-COVID-19 era such as the digital economy, connectivity, smart cities and cybersecurity.
The Permanent Secretaries also exchanged views on regional and international developments, and stressed the importance of strengthening ASEAN Centrality and unity, as well as deepening regional economic integration through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement that will be signed later this year, the press release added.