Malaysia, S’pore agree to ease curbs for cross-border travel

Kuala Lumpur, July 14 (IANS) Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to mutually ease travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resume some necessary travels between the two countries, the governments said on Tuesday.

The Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) are two schemes that meant to address the needs of different groups of cross-border travellers, Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan said in a joint statement, reports Xinhua news agency.

The RGL will enable cross-border travel for essential business and official purposes between both countries on the conditions including having to submit and adhere to a controlled itinerary during their stay and to have a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test.

Meanwhile, the PCA will allow Singapore and Malaysia residents, who hold long-term immigration passes for business and work to enter the other country for work purpose.

After at least three consecutive months in their country of work, they may return to their home country for a short-term home leave, and thereafter re-enter their country of work to continue work for at least another three consecutive months.

The two governments said they are targeting to implement the two schemes from Aug. 10, as officials are working to finalize the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the implementation.

The statement added that both countries had also agreed to develop other appropriate schemes for the cross-border movement of people including a daily cross-border commuting proposal for work purposes for travelers.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, hundreds of thousands of people used the two land crossings between Malaysia and Singapore daily, for work and tourism.

The air travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was named one of the busiest cross border air routes in the world.

–IANS

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