Since the ‘Circuit Breaker’ started, travel between Japan and Singapore has largely stopped. However, that may soon change after Japan Foreign Affairs Minister Motegi Toshimitsu arrived in Singapore.
On Thursday (13 Aug), Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan released a joint statement with Mr Motegi, announcing Singapore and Japan’s cooperation in opening borders to each other soon.
They aim to have a “residence track” or green lane as soon as next month, with negotiations hopefully ending by the start of Sep.
The door might open between Japan and Singapore again.
Under the forthcoming agreement, business travel will be able to take place between Japan and Singapore, with a special quota in place.
This should be similar to other green lanes that Singapore has set up with countries like Malaysia and China.
There’ll be a controlled itinerary for 14 days for business travelers, as well as public health safeguards in place.
While Singapore are setting up other green lanes with countries, for Japan, this will be one of the first countries they do it with.
Along with the discussion Mr Motegi had with Dr Balakrishnan, he also paid a visit to the Istana and met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
PM Lee was happy to welcome him, saying he is the first foreign visitor to the Istana since border closures.
Hopefully, there’ll be more visits to come as countries work together to deal with Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic is still a pressing issue to solve. But as countries work to control the outbreak internally, they also have to think about reopening their borders.
While full-scale leisure travel is unlikely to happen anytime soon, essential travel should be manageable with measures in place.
This example of Singapore and Japan will hopefully make it so that business relations can improve further, which can only be good news for both countries.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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