By Francis Teo
THE Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) welcomed the news of the agreement to implement the Reciprocal Green Lane/Travel Corridor Arrangement (RGL/TCA) between Malaysia and Indonesia.
We look forward to seeing the opening of borders between Malaysia and Indonesia, and anticipate that this would facilitate the movement of business travellers between the two countries.
The success of this Reciprocal Green Lane would help support and speed up the opening of the business events industry in Malaysia.”
For the RGL/TCA to work, details of the initiative need to be identified properly when it is implemented once the situation in both countries improves.
Airports and immigrations need to look into providing permanent special lanes and counters dedicated to these travellers to facilitate their movement upon arrival.
Whatever standard operating procedures (SOPs) the Government decides, we hope that travellers from Indonesia will abide by them, be it pre-requisite quarantine days, vaccinations, swab tests, or other requirements deemed necessary.
Referring to Indonesia’s large-scale implementation of its mass vaccination programme, we urge the Malaysian Government to expedite the roll-out of its vaccination programme for Malaysians so that we can catch up with other countries who have already begun their vaccination programmes.
We have written to the Malaysian Government expressing our interest in contributing towards the successful roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination to the rakyat.
Our members include 29 convention centre operators located in many major cities in the country. We have proposed to work with the Government by designating these participating venues as temporary mass vaccination centres during the vaccination delivery.
MACEOS is willing and prepared to work closely with the Malaysian Government to ensure the success of this vaccination drive.
We hope that through this collaboration, we can facilitate the Government’s goal of providing vaccinations to 70% of the population, equivalent to 23 million Malaysians. – Feb 8, 2021
Francis Teo is president of the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS).
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia
