In what could one day become Southeast Asia’s version of the European Union’s Schengen visa-free zone, Myanmar and four other countries are discussing the introduction of a single visa that would permit travel to all of them.
The issue was aired at a meeting in Thailand that brought together Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand in the so-called CLMVT 2016 forum.
“We discussed travel to the five countries on a single visa. These are just initial steps toward implementation,” said Union Tourism Minister U Ohn Maung at a press conference on June 19 at Inle Lake Hotel.
U Phyo Wai Yar Zar, chair of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee, who participated in the forum, told The Myanmar Times the new travel arrangement might take some time. “It may not be easy to create a single visa for five countries because even a bilateral visa takes time to arrange. There will have to be a lot of negotiation.”
He said the problem was essentially political. “If we got the single visa, people who live in the region could travel easily, which would be good for the tourism industry,” especially if the visa permitted cross-border travel overland as well as at international airports.
“Visa-free travel would make foreign trips so much easier,” he said.
Daw Sabei Aung, managing director of Nature Dreams travel and tours, said if ASEAN countries formed a single visa zone like Europe’s Schengen system, it would ease progress toward a single market, improve access to healthcare on the basis of mutual recognition of health insurance and worker security, and harmonising prices and standards in trade.
“But the existence of differing policies in countries of the region is still a weakness,” she said.
Last year, Myanmar received the Best Destination Award 2015 within the ASEAN Economic Community from Lonely Planet.
Source : Myanmar Times
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