Singapore and China have agreed to enable official and business travel between the two countries from this month. In a press statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this arrangement would be subject to Covid-19 preventive and control measures.
Essential travel will be allowed between Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Singapore. The Ministry plans to gradually expand the arrangement to cover more Chinese provinces.
Both countries see the need for securing the connectivity of production and supply chains. This will allow the flow of essential medical supplies and food.
Minister for National Development, Mr Lawrence Wong stated that Singapore is in talks with certain countries in order to establish “travel bubbles” with countries where the pandemic is under control.
The essential travel arrangement with China was discussed at the 2nd China-Singapore joint meeting on Covid-19 held via video conference on Thursday.
The Ministry stated that “both sides agreed to further advance high-quality cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, especially by maintaining progress in our three Government-to-Government projects, including maximising the role of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative-New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (CCI-ILSTC) in further strengthening trade connectivity between Western China and Southeast Asia; enhancing financial connectivity and strengthening third-party market cooperation,”.
