Under the programme, ABTC holders will be exempt from visa and resident registration procedures and will be able to use express immigration lanes at airports, and stay for a maximum of 60 days each visit. Using ATBC, Vietnamese businesses can make business journeys to other ABTC participating economies and vice versa.

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. So far, 17 APEC member economies have joined the ABTC programme, including Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Vietnam News Agency)