Thailand and Cambodia: One visa for two countries

Wed, December 12, 2007
The Nation (Thailand)

Thailand and Cambodia will sign a single visa agreement on Monday enabling visitors from outside to use only one visa for two countries, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram would sign the agreement with this Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong when he makes his official visit to Phnom Penh on Monday.The pact was a pilot project under the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).Set up since 2003, ACMECS is a joint development scheme made of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.Under the initiative of "Four countries, One Destination", the ACMECS Single Visa pact aimed to facilitate tourism in the region.Foreign ministers of four countries agreed in Siem Riep in August 2005 to allow Thailand and Cambodia to implement the scheme first and the remaining members might join later if it is successful.Visitors from outside could apply entry visa at embassies of either Thailand or Cambodia for two nations, said the ministry's spokesman Tharit Charungvat.The arrangement would benefit for tourism of the two countries and visits apply only one visa to both Thailand and Cambodia which have many different attractive sites, he said.However, the pact would not come into force until the Interior Ministry and concern agencies issued related regulations to enforce, Tharit said but did not say when such related regulations would be finished.