Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung on behalf of the Prime Minister, on Friday January 19 agreed in principle to a tourist transportation pact between the three neighboring countries of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Foreign Ministry was entrusted to grant authority to an official from the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) to sign the deal with representatives from the Lao and Thai governments.
The Deputy PM also gave the nod in principle to a list of routes and border gates that will be included in the agreement.
A schedule to implement the agreement will be presided over by the MoTC in collaboration with relevant ministries, agencies and localities.
In related news, sea and road tours covering Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand would start from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Kien Giang province in the first half of this year.
The road tour would leave Rach Gia town or Ha Tien district, go through Cambodia’s Sihanoukville province and the capital Phnom Penh, and wind up in Thailand’s Kathaburi province, Director of the provincial’s Tourism Department, Le Minh Hoang, said.
While, the sea trip would depart Rach Gia town and Phu Quoc Island, he added.
The tours would be jointly conducted by tourism companies in the three countries, Hoang said, hoping such tours would bring more visitors to Vietnam in the future.
Vietnam welcomed around 278,800 tourists from Thailand and Cambodia in 2006, posting a lower annual growth rate than the previous year.
(Vietnam & World Economy)
Vietnamese
