At the 37th ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam on Thursday member states agreed on the framework for an ASEAN travel corridor arrangement (TCA) for essential business travelers.

Jokowi, attending the summit online, urged a swift, efficient move from the ASEAN coordination and sectoral boards to implement the measure. He said ASEAN should soon establish temporary fast lanes along with strict health protocols, including during departure and arrival, making use of regionally integrated digital platforms and determine ports of entry.

Jokowi had already proposed such an arrangement during an ASEAN Summit in June.

"I hope the ASEAN TCA can be in operation in the first quarter of next year,” Jokowi said in his speech to address the virtual plenary session of the summit on Thursday, as quoted by a press release from the Presidential Secretariat. “The arrangement will bring out optimism that our economic activities can be gradually activated while still maintaining discipline in implementing health protocols.”

"Our people cannot wait any longer; they want to see our region immediately rise up," he added.

ASEAN member states have been dealing with the pandemic rather differently, with some performing better than the others. On Wednesday, the ASEAN Biodiaspora Virtual Center (ABVC) reported that 1,012,993 COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the ASEAN region, with a total of 24,309 deaths -- almost half of them coming from Indonesia alone.

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