Easing Entry of World Business Travellers

Malaysia is welcoming business travellers to Malaysia while keeping everyone safe by introducing a Business Travellers Centre (BTC) at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The BTC, launched today by Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, functions to facilitate the entry of foreign business travellers into Malaysia.

Located at Gate C36, Satellite Terminal, KLIA the BTC is now open for short term foreign business travellers planning to carry out their business tasks in the country. The launching of the BTC today also marks a major milestone of the Government’s unwavering mission to revive the economy and to pave the way for economic rebound in 2021.

According to Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year will be a promising year for the Malaysian economy as the Government is committed to easing business operations for both local and foreign businesses alike.

“Malaysia has pro-business and pragmatic policies that support the investment climate in the country. Our supportive business ecosystem is in fact a catalyst to attract investors not only to conduct new business activities, but to also expand and diversify their existing operations here. The BTC is reflective of our responsiveness to the current situation and in finding progressive solutions to ensure we can achieve a balance in protecting lives and livelihoods,” said the Senior Minister.

The BTC is one of the key components of the One Stop Centre (OSC) initiative by the Malaysian Government to ease the movement of Business Travellers - from entry to exit point. The Centre assumes a vital role in ensuring that Malaysia remains an attractive investment destination for foreign businesses.

It provides a seamless support system for short term Business Travellers by providing fast-track services such as below:

1. after disembarkation from the plane to taking the RT-PCR swab test at the dedicated COVID-19 Lab within the BTC, which results can be produced within 3 hours;
2. after having declared healthy, the business travellers will proceed to the immigration green lane; and
3. the Government will appoint a liaison officer for the business travellers with a specific business itinerary.

Short Term Business Travellers are business travellers who do not hold any dedicated entry passes and intend to stay in the country for 14 days or less, subject to the approval of the OSC committee and a strict set of Standard Operating Procedures.

To date, the OSC Committee has approved 93 applications for Short Term Business Travellers. The Short Term Business Travellers whose applications were approved are from investing companies with total investments valued at RM15 billion. 

Moving forward, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) – an agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) - has identified RM82 billion worth of investments in potential leads and another RM65.9 billion in the pipeline. In realising these potential investments, services by the OSC such as the BTC are critical. The BTC is a collaborative effort between MITI, MIDA, Ministry of Health (MOH), Department of Immigration Malaysia, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), and Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB).