Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s official visit to Thailand this week is expected to bring in some ‘good news’ in regards to the reopening of Malaysia-Thailand borders according to Malaysian ambassador to Thailand, Datuk Jojie Samuel.
As reported by national news agency Bernama, Jojie Samuel said that Ismail Sabri’s 3-day visit to Thailand was at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha, the first official visit to our neighbour to the north by a Malaysian Prime Minister since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic some 2 years ago.
Ismail Sabri is scheduled to go on a working visit to Bangkok starting from 24 February up until 26 February 2022.
The Malaysian ambassador also asserted that the visit will discuss matters regarding reopening of land borders, bilateral cooperation and exploring trade and investment opportunities post-Covid.
Jojie Samuel said,
“There will be some good news (on the reopening of land borders). There are few proposals on the table. Senior officials and a technical committee will discuss the details on the reopening,”
Previously, Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry’s deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said that Thailand was planning to reopen the Thai-Malaysia border in March to boost tourist arrivals considering Malaysian tourists have been the largest group of visitors to Thailand before Covid-19.
Furthermore, the Kingdom’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and Tourism Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) has been ordered to prepare and outline the pandemic mitigation measures for the reopening of the southern border provinces in the checkpoints of Songkhla, Narathiwat, Yala and Satun.
Natapanu said tourists from Malaysia will enter Thailand via quarantine-free ‘Test & Go’ programme pending they pass two RT-PCR COVID-19 tests on day 1 upon arrival and the second on day 5.
What do you guys think of this development? Would you be going on a road trip to Thailand via land transport should the border be reopened? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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