Putrajaya to discuss reopening borders to foreign travellers
Putrajaya will discuss reopening the country's borders to fully vaccinated foreign travellers through the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates by today, said National Recovery Council (NRC) chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin.
"The meeting today was briefed by...
Putrajaya will discuss reopening the country's borders to fully vaccinated foreign travellers through the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates by today, said National Recovery Council (NRC) chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin.
"The meeting today was briefed by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on the latest Covid-19 indicators.
"Overall, I am satisfied with the development we have achieved," Muhyiddin told a press conference after chairing the meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.
The NRC was informed of the government's plan to discuss whether to abolish the 14-day compulsory quarantine or impose a shorter quarantine period for international travellers.
"This will be done via mutual recognition of vaccine certificates as what has been implemented by several countries," he said.
Currently, foreigners can only enter Malaysia for emergency matters, business, and official affairs.
On Oct 10, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government was mulling reopening borders to international tourists.
On another development, Muhyiddin announced the setting up of a new task force to find ways to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hit by the pandemic.
He said the task force, in one month, will present a detailed analysis to identify solutions and forms of assistance to the affected industries based on the latest statistics.
"This is important so we can identify the SMEs that are impacted most so we can formulate the support needed," he said.
The analysis will be presented to the NRC for further discussion, he said.
The task force will comprise the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, as well as the Human Resources Ministry, he said.
Muhyiddin, who chaired the NRC meeting earlier today, also highlighted the need to end the freeze on hiring foreign workers after several industries faced a shortage of manpower.
He said SMEs are mainly facing cash flow and manpower issues.
He added that Putrajaya was considering allowing foreign labourers to be hired for certain economic sectors that are facing severe manpower shortages.
Last month, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said the freeze on the hiring of foreign workers was extended until Dec 31.
However, the business community urged the government to reconsider such a decision as it would have a big impact on businesses that have started to open up.
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