VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian and Malaysian Governments discussed Covid-19 vaccine certificate of mutual recognition to strengthen the cooperation between the two in fighting the pandemic. Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi in a joint press conference with her Malaysian counterpart, Saifuddin Abdullah at the Foreign Affairs Ministry Office, in Jakarta on Monday (18/10) said that both of them agreed that all vaccines with WHO's Emergency Use Listing must be treated equally without discrimination.

The mutual recognition can be supported by using the apps namely PeduliLindungi from Indonesia and MySejahtera from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saifuddin Abdullah said that the technical staff of both countries should discuss how the system can accelerate mutual recognition. The recognition is important since both countries intend to reopen economic cooperation, which needs to be supported by mutual visit and cooperation, without neglecting the health protocols. In that respect, Minister Saifuddin Abdullah recommended Indonesia and Malaysia to open cross-border travel gradually by prioritizing the important sector, namely trade. A travel facility for trade, education, and followed by tourism is expected to be prepared in detail by the two nations.

Indonesia welcomed Malaysia's suggestion by encouraging an agreement to regulate travel corridors for essential business people of the two nations.

This regulation aims to facilitate the mobility of business people safely, and is expected to encourage the acceleration of economic recovery. The agreement framework will complement the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework (ATCAF) implementation that will apply soon.

Based on Indonesian government's data, the trade value of Indonesia-Malaysia in January-August 2021 reached US$13 billion. The bilateral trade value rose by 44 percent compared to the same period in 2020, namely US$9 billion.