Thailand in favour of single ASEAN visa

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN may eventually issue a single visa for travel in any of the member states, with Thailand and the Philippines the first countries to vocalize their support for the idea publicly. After a meeting between the leaders of the Philippines and Thailand, representatives said that the single visa was one of the main topics discussed between the two leaders.

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo welcomed the Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to Manila, and said the Thai PM " was very upbeat about tourism. He said that maybe we can agree among ASEAN countries, starting with the Philippine-Thailand agreement, [to do away with the] necessity of having a visa for tourists coming in and out of Thailand and vice versa.�

Come July, Thailand will chair the rotating head of the bloc, and it is expected that one major issue will be “to have a common visa for all the ten countries so that countries who visit Thailand can also visit one or the other of these countries in ASEAN,� according to Philippine executive secretary Eduardo Ermita.