Jakarta: To aid economic recovery, Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to open vaccinated travel lanes in stages. On Wednesday, visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Indonesian President Joko Widodo met at the latter's Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, to discuss cooperation on this special arrangement, according to reports.

"We must strengthen cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect and benefit as close neighbours and peoples of a common race. We agreed to create a travel corridor arrangement in stages to aid economic recovery "At a joint press conference, Jokowi, as the President is known, said. This is a positive trend, as trade between the two countries increased by 49% from January to August of this year, according to the president.

According to Ismail Sabri, the two countries will open the Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur-Bali travel routes in the first phase. "We will expedite the details and issue a joint statement to announce the reopening of the Malaysian and Indonesian borders," the Prime Minister said, noting that the two countries will celebrate their diplomatic relations' 65th anniversary next year.

Both leaders also discussed migrant worker protection, the importance of concluding border negotiations between the two countries as soon as possible, and regional issues. The two countries had previously signed a memorandum of understanding on education and customs cooperation.

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