Jakarta. Indonesia and Singapore have agreed on Monday on an arrangement that allows essential business and official travel between the two countries to resume amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi spoke with her Singaporean counterpart, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, over the telephone to conclude the deal, the Indonesian foreign ministry and Singaporean foreign ministry said in a joint statement on Monday.

The arrangement, known as Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) in Indonesia or Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) in Singapore, would allow eligible travelers to make business or official trips between them.   

"These travelers will have to abide by Covid-19 prevention and public health measures mutually agreed by both countries, including pre-departure and post-arrival Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab tests from mutually recognized health institutions," the ministries said in the statement. 

Indonesia and Singapore planned to open RGL/TCA applications on Oct 26 and see travels to resume soon after.

In March, Singapore required visitors from Indonesia and other Asean member countries to submit health information and acquire approval from Singapore's Ministry of Health before traveling to the city-state.

On the other hand, Indonesia had banned any foreigners from Singapore from entering the archipelago since April. However, the Law and Human Rights Minister Yasona Laoly said last week that the country immigration worked to reverse that rule to secure the travel corridor deal with Singapore.