Thailand relaxes quarantine rules for jabbed Bangladeshis

Thailand will allow vaccinated travellers from Bangladesh from November 1 without quarantine under the ‘Sandbox Scheme’ in the designated tourism areas of Thailand.

On spending a week in those designated areas, travellers will be allowed to move in any areas of the country. The Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand is expected to issue a press release detailing the new arrangement.

This was shared by the newly-appointed Ambassador of Thailand to Bangladesh Makawadee Sumitmor when she called on State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Monday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The state minister welcomed the new ambassador and hoped that during her tenure in Dhaka, Bangladesh-Thailand bilateral relations would reach to a newer height through meaningful and pragmatic cooperation and collaboration in different areas of interest.

Shahriar Alam mentioned that Bangladesh and Thailand have been enjoying excellent friendly and cordial relationship since independence. He suggested that next year the two countries would jointly celebrate the golden jubilee of the diplomatic relations.

The state minister noted that Thailand is important to Bangladesh for wide range of issues such as trade, science-technology, medical services, tourism, foreign investment, connectivity. He suggested that the multi-faceted relations could be expanded further if more people-to-people contacts take place and barriers in trade and investment are removed.

The state minister shared with the Thai ambassador of the various aspects of the miraculous economic progress that Bangladesh has attained under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Highlighting the growing purchasing capacity of the people of Bangladesh, particularly of the bulging middle-class, as well as the investment friendly policies of the Government of Bangladesh, the state minister told the Thai envoy that more Thai investors could invest in Bangladesh and avail the opportunities offered by a market of more than 160 million people.

The state minister stressed particularly on Thai cooperation for enhancing capacity building in the areas of agro-processing, health sector, etc. To expand bilateral trade, both the state minister and the ambassador hoped that two countries would make efforts for concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the near future. It may be noted that the Ministry of Commerce is currently carrying out a feasibility study in this regard.

The state minister thanked Thailand for the humanitarian support extended to the Rohingya and sought more political support from Thailand on the repatriation of Rohingya into their homeland Myanmar.

The state minister further sought Thai support to Bangladesh’s candidature for ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner. Shahriar Alam thanked the Ambassador Sumitmor for the call on and assured all-out cooperation in discharging her duties.