The governments of Vietnam and Japan have agreed to gradually relax travel restrictions between the two countries, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on June 19.

Vietnam and Japan have agreed to gradually relax travel restrictions between the two countries. Photo: Vietnam Airlines.

The two countries will discuss specific measures and procedures via diplomatic channels, the MOFA added.

The ministry said the governments of Japan and Vietnam have closely cooperated in fighting Covid-19. The Vietnamese government highly appreciates important results the Japanese government has achieved in preventing the spread of the pandemic. 

On May 25, Japan announced the lifting of the state of emergency. The Japanese government also highly spoke of the Vietnamese government for its success in containing Covid-19 and reporting no new Covid-19 infection in the community for over two months now.

The two sides agreed to continue boosting the bilateral strategic partnership in all aspects, fully complying with relevant regulations on Covid-19 prevention and control of each country.  

Japan is considering easing the entry ban on travelers from Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand currently in place due to the spread of the new coronavirus, Japan News quoted a Japanese government source as saying on June 1.

The Japanese government is planning an approach under which business people and others in possession of documents certifying that they are negative for coronavirus in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before leaving their countries will be allowed to enter Japan, and who also test negative after arriving in Japan, Japan News reported.