Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (standing) at the Tuesday cabinet meeting in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo 

China’s Guangzhou and Taiwan, Seoul and Tokyo, together with Laos and Cambodia were among potential international air routes Việt Nam is considering reopening, after months of border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Transport to consider “reopening international flights soon” to a select few destinations, based on safety criteria as well as political and diplomatic importance, but warned that the reopening must be completed with caution.

The destinations cited above are all important partners of Việt Nam and have recorded positive progress in reining in the pandemic situation.

This is part of the official announcement released yesterday from the Government Office after a meeting of the cabinet with the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Tuesday, chaired by PM Phúc.

In the document, the Vietnamese Government leader asked for best preparations for integration efforts and building Việt Nam as a “safe destination”, not only for economic development purposes but also for the country’s political and foreign affairs goals.

The countries or locations to which flights would reopen must have recorded 30 days or more of no new community transmission cases, the document reads, adding that quarantine rules for arrivals from these destinations must be issued along with standard prevention measures to avoid risks of the virus being spread among the Vietnamese population.

The Government also agrees to allow entries of experts, businesspeople and managers, or highly skilled workers, into the country either to work or to look for business and investment opportunities in Việt Nam. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport are supposed to work together to expedite entry processes, flight arrangements or other procedures regarding these groups of entries.

Meanwhile, PM Phúc assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local authorities to implement the programme to stimulate domestic tourism, given that international arrivals will be restricted for the foreseeable future.