Indonesia and Singapore will continue to discuss a mutually vaccinated transport lane

Retno Marsudi, Indonesia's foreign minister, and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's foreign minister, have agreed to continue discussions on safe travel between the two countries, including via a bilateral vaccinated travel lane (VTL).

"Both parties agreed to continue bilateral discussions on VTL arrangements," the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement following a meeting between the ministers on Tuesday (Nov 16). (reciprocally).

"The two foreign ministers also reviewed the implementation of Singapore's unilateral VTL granted to point-to-point travellers from Indonesia, namely from Jakarta to Singapore."

"The Singapore foreign minister indicated that Singapore's unilateral VTL implementation was based on, among other things, trust in the system, continuous improvement in the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, and a greater vaccination rate," Mdm Marsudi said in a statement.

Indonesia reported 221 new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
In Indonesia, there are presently over 4.2 million cases.
More than 30% of the population has been fully immunised in the country.

The Indonesian minister also quoted Dr. Balakrishnan as suggesting that Singapore's unilateral VTL implementation will employ an allocated flight to ensure public health.

On November 29, the city state's unilateral VTL with Indonesia would take effect.

Singapore's Transport Minister S Iswaran said on Monday that the VTL with Indonesia is now unilateral because Indonesia remains closed to general travel.

"Indonesia has unilaterally reopened its borders to admit travellers from 19 countries since October 14," Mr Iswaran added.

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