Vietnam joins APEC Business Travel Card

Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Travel Card Program was signed by Bui Dinh Dinh, Head of the Consular Department under the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry in Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea , in late- 2005.

Under the program, APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) holders will be able to be exempted from visa and resident registration procedures. They can use express immigration lanes at airports, come in and out of ABTC members and stay for at least 60 days each visit.

Using ATBC, Vietnamese businesses can make business journeys to other ABTC participating economies and vice versa, businesses from ABTC members will be provided with favorable conditions when entering and staying in Vietnam .

The Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam is to grant ABTC to business people in 2006 as the country will play the host of the 2006 APEC.

The ABTC was initiated by Australia in 1996 and has been applied in three founding member countries - namely Australia , the Republic of Korea and the Philippines - since 1997. So far, 17 APEC member economies have joined the ABTC program, including Australia , Brunei , Chile , China , Hong Kong , Indonesia , Japan , the Republic of Korea , Malaysia , New Zealand , Papua New Guinea , Peru , the Philippines , Singapore , Taiwan , Thailand and Vietnam .

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