Thailand to lead APEC task force on restoring travel between members

THAILAND will head the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Safe Passage Taskforce to seek solutions on restoring normal travel between the 21 member countries.

The move to name Thailand as head of the task force was made during the APEC Senior Officials Meeting from February 14-25 in a bid to accelerate economic recovery, Thani Thongphakdi, Foreign Ministry permanent secretary, told Krungthep Turakij on Monday.

Meanwhile, Department of International Economics Affairs director-general Cherdchai Chaivaivid said the group has discussed various aspects of this issue, such as vaccine certificate, safe and sustainable tourism, and extension of the APEC Business Travel Card project, to strengthen travel between APEC economic areas for the long term.

He said Thailand has proposed to create an APEC

Information Portal for Safe Passage Across the Region to exchange and update information on travel measures in 21 economic areas and enable checking of travel-related documents.

He added that these proposals were expected to be completed within this year.

“These proposals aim to speed up the reopening of border trade for the benefit of citizens and businesses in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

During the meeting, the group also discussed the Free Trade Area of the Asia- Pacific to cope with changes in the economic landscape, such as health, environment and digital transition.

In addition, the group also supported Thailand in proposing the Bangkok Goal to apply the Bio-Circular-Green economy model to create sustainability in APEC.