JOHOR BAHRU: People travelling between Singapore and Johor may soon be able to enjoy passport-free clearance on both sides of the border, as well as digitised processes for cargo clearance at the land checkpoints.
These are among the “early initiatives” being explored leading up to a new Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which aims to boost cross-border economic connectivity between Singapore and Malaysia.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on Thursday (Jan 11) between both countries to develop a framework for a legally binding agreement on the SEZ.
The MOU was signed in Johor Bahru by Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and Malaysia’s Minister of Economy Mohd Rafizi Ramli.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the signing.
Under the MOU, both countries will explore several initiatives that will “build towards” the SEZ, including more expeditious clearance of people at land checkpoints, and the facilitation of renewable energy cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore, said Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Malaysia’s Ministry of Economy.
In a joint statement, the ministries added that the MOU, which comes two months after the 10th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat last October, “reaffirms the longstanding ties and joint commitment by both countries to strengthen economic cooperation”.
Both sides also agreed to work towards a full-fledged agreement on the Johor-Singapore SEZ and provide an update at the 11th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat, to be held in Malaysia this year.
Both countries had first announced that they would set up a task force to study establishing an SEZ at the 16th meeting of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia in July 2023.
Three months later, at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat in Singapore, Mr Lee described the proposed SEZ as a “substantial and promising project” which, among other things, should lead to smoother trips for people working on either side of the Causeway, one of the world’s busiest border crossings.