Malaysia Will Push For Single Visa For Asean, Says Tengku Adnan

BANGKOK, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will lobby with other Asean countries to adopt a single visa policy valid for all the 10 member states despite Myanmar's reluctance and security concerns of other countries, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Sunday.

He said Malaysia has been pushing for the policy since 2002 and hoped the matter would be taken up at the leaders' level during the Asean Summit.

One of the major hurdles for such a policy was Myanmar's reluctance due to its domestic situation while some other countries like Indonesia have travel restrictions due to security concerns, he said.

"Single visa will allow long-haul travellers to move around the region without much hassle. They usually come for two or three weeks and prefer to travel to more than one country," he told reporters after arriving for the Asean Tourism Ministers' Meeting which starts here tomorrow.

Tengku Adnan also said the US-imposed sanction on Myanmar also complicates matters as long-haul travellers include from the US and Europe.

Furthermore, he said, Myanmar has yet to enforce visa-free travel to Asean citizens despite all member states signing a visa exemption treaty last year which would allow citizens to enter and stay in member countries for a maximum of 30 days.

In 2007, Asean received 60.8 million international tourist arrivals, with the growth rate of 11 per cent.

He also said Malaysia was disappointed with the lack of progress and efforts from other member countries to undertake joint promotions of the region.

"We are not happy with fellow Asean members in promoting the region as a whole. When we go for overseas promotions, we don't only promote Malaysia but also other countries in the region," he said.

Tengku Adnan said many rounds of negotiations were held with other members of Asean to undertake joint promotions but the response has not been good.

"We can benefit more by promoting the region as a whole. There are certain attractions that we have but others don't and vice-versa," he added.

-- BERNAMA