Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with Singapore’s leader on Thursday night to discuss opening a travel bubble between the countries
- Mr Morrison says he’s committed to opening Australia’s borders to the Asian nation, once the pandemic is under control
- The Singapore PM echoed the comments, suggesting travellers would need to potentially show proof of vaccination to enter the countries
- However, Mr Morrison said they were not in a position to confirm when the bubble would begin
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has met with Singapore’s leader to discuss opening a travel bubble between the countries.
The PM met with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday night, making a stopover in the country as part of his trip to the G7 summit in the UK.
In a joint statement, the two leaders said they were committed to establishing a bubble once the threat of the pandemic subsides.
However, Mr Morrison said they were not in a position to confirm when the bubble would begin.
“There is still some time before we reach that milestone,” Mr Morrison said.
“But there is nothing impeding us from getting on with the job of putting systems in place that will enable such a bubble to emerge.”
Under the potential bubble, travellers would need to show proof of vaccination to enter the countries.
Singapore’s PM said it would take time to set up the necessary infrastructure to allow quarantine-free travel to resume.
“Once the majority of the population is vaccinated it becomes much easier for us to contemplate these openings up,” Mr Lee said.
“We need to prepare the infrastructure and processes to get ready to do this.”
Australia opened its first travel bubble with New Zealand in April this year, while Singapore is in late-stage talks to open a bubble with Hong Kong.
