Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) and Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara at the signing ceremony in Bangkok on Jan. 28. (Photo: asia.nikkei.com) Hanoi (VNA) - Thailand and China agreed on January 28 to waive visa requirements for each other's nationals to facilitate travel and tourism between the two countries, hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi signed the document to this effect, which takes effect on March 1, at a ceremony after meeting in Bangkok.
Wang Yi said that the visa-free era will bring people-to-people exchanges to a new height and there will be a big increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand.
China was a top source for Thailand's tourism industry, a major driver of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy before the pandemic, but the return of Chinese tourists to Thailand has been slow.
The number of Chinese tourists to Thailand plunged to 3.5 million in 2023 from 11 million in 2019 before the pandemic.
The two sides also pledged to speed-up the construction of the China-Thailand railway and work together in combating transnational crimes./.
