Vietnam to Grant APEC Travel Cards to Local Businesses by Late 2006
Vietnam is moving quickly to make careful technical preparations for granting APEC travel cards to domestic businesspeople by the end of this year with the aim to create favorable condition for their traveling during APEC events.
The APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) will allow Vietnamese entrepreneurs to travel to other Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum member economies for 60 days without a visa.
Vietnam joined the ABTC program in January this year and has allowed more than 9,100 foreign businesspeople carrying such cards to enter Vietnam the end of August 2006, according to the Vietnamese Migration Management Department.
Applicants from other APEC economies take only 7-14 days to receive an entry card into Vietnam, the process is faster than in other economies.
So far 17 out of 21 APEC economies have joined the program, while the remaining four members, Canada, Mexico, Russia, and the US have not yet made a decision on this issue, a report of the APEC Business Mobility Group said.
Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
