Off the wire
• Urgent: Two U.S. soldiers killed in operation against IS militants in Afghanistan  • Foreign exchange rate of euro to other currencies  • Urgent: Man shot at leg by police in hospital in Berlin  • Former senior Henan official stands trial for bribery  • Yellow alert issued as strong winds hit BiH  • Energy meeting in Istanbul seeks sustainable way to meet growing demand  • 3rd LD Writethru: Man with knives arrested near British parliament on suspicion of "planning terrorist act"  • Kenya says athletes found doping to be prosecuted  • 2nd LD: Man arrested after "incident" near British parliament as no injury reported  • Roundup: S. Africans mark Freedom Day with calls for radical economic transformation  
You are here: 　 Home

Schengen-style ASEAN single visa may start from Thailand, Cambodia

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

Discussion on a Schengen-style ASEAN single visa is still underway, while Thailand plans to start a single visa scheme with Cambodia as the first step, a Thai minister said Thursday.

"It is not that easy, but we are not stopping, so we have a single visa committee working together," Thailand's Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said during a tourism conference in Bangkok.

Kobkarn said that the committee has to work with her ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Immigration Bureau and Office of National Security Council.

"It not only touches one ministry in our country, it needs to answer questions of so many bodies," she said, adding this is an example explaining why a single visa for ASEAN has to take such a long time.

The minister said Thailand and the countries in ASEAN are still working on the single visa, but she didn't give any clear time frame.

Thailand plans to start a single visa with Cambodia but the problem of different visa fees needs to be tackled first, she said.

Officials from other ASEAN countries also welcomed ASEAN single visa.

Arief Yahya, Indonesia's minister of tourism, said a single visa for ASEAN can make it easier to promote ASEAN as a single destination. Endit