By Massita Ahmad
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (NNN-Bernama) — As close, immediate neighbours the deep relationship between Malaysia and Singapore is of immense importance to both sides, said Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore active multi-level engagements and a much stronger cooperation are certainly the way forward for our two countries,\u201d said Ismail Sabri at a joint press conference with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong here Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is crucial also for our cooperation in undertaking effective and meaningful (economic) recovery efforts so that our countries will come out stronger following the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Malaysian premier is on an official visit to Singapore at the invitation of Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that today both countries marked another significant milestone in their cooperation with the reopening of their borders through the launching of the land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL-Land).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ismail Sabri had on Monday morning crossed Tambak Johor or the Johor Causeway and was received by the Singapore Prime Minister at the Woodlands Checkpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis in itself is very significant as we have also launched VTL-Air. This is part of the gradual reopening of our borders to facilitate travel between the two countries,\u201d the Malaysian premier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ismail Sabri said he had also discussed with his counterpart additional measures that both will undertake with regard to cross-border travels between Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both of them have agreed to include all categories of travellers for the VTL-Land, subject to the health requirements determined by both countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also agreed to expand the VTL-land to include additional bus service routes through the Second Link, trains operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), and gradually to include personal vehicles such as motorbikes and cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe acknowledge that the reopening of borders is important to reactivate cross-border social and economic activities that will benefit the people of both countries,\u201d Ismail Sabri said. \u201cWe hope that by doing this, it would provide the opportunity for more people on both sides of the Causeway who have been away from their families due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to be reunited with their loved ones – which we know the people of both Malaysia and Singapore have long awaited for.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expanding cross-border movement by air to other Malaysian destinations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Both of them also discussed the cross-border travel by air between Singapore and destinations in Malaysia like Penang, Langkawi, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth of us decided that our officials should start to draw up measures for this purpose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ismail Sabri and Lee had a four-eyed meeting at the Istana in the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the discussion, Ismail Sabri said they also agreed on the need to resume work on their existing bilateral mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis includes the 10th Annual Leaders\u2019 Retreat, which we have not been able to convene during the past two years due to the pandemic,\u201d he added. \u201cInsya Allah, we will have our Leaders\u2019 Retreat in the first quarter of next year and I look forward to coming back to Singapore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ismail Sabri revealed that he and Lee also agreed that the work on other mechanisms at the ministerial and official levels should resume as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is important to ensure that our multi-faceted cooperation and outstanding issues are kept on the right track with a positive momentum going forward. Subsequently, PM Lee and I will discuss the progress of these bilateral mechanisms at our Leaders\u2019 Retreat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both leaders also discussed the situation in Myanmar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe agreed that it is crucial for ASEAN to continue playing a positive and constructive role in facilitating a durable and peaceful solution in the interest of Myanmar and the larger interest of the ASEAN Community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe share the same view that it is crucial for Myanmar to cooperate in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, and the necessity to preserve the credibility and integrity of ASEAN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe look forward to the return to democracy in Myanmar and the participation of Myanmar at the highest level at future summits,\u201d Ismail Sabri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n — NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Massita Ahmad SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (NNN-Bernama) — As close, immediate neighbours the deep relationship between Malaysia and Singapore is of immense importance to both sides, said Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. \u201cMore active multi-level engagements and a much stronger cooperation are certainly the way forward for our two countries,\u201d said Ismail Sabri at a joint press conference with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":153844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,300,291,316,269],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153838"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/153844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}