Meeting in the middle

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How will the "green lane" arrangements for business travel between Singapore and Malaysia facilitate your operations?

Yeoh Oon Jin Executive chairman PwC Singapore

In this new normal, international business travel will undoubtedly be significantly reduced as many business activities can be done digitally. However, there remain essential business activities that must be carried out in person. These include critical negotiations, where non-verbal cues play a big part in the communication, or certain physical due diligence checks that are needed for compliance reasons and so on. As such, the ''green lane'' arrangements would allow us as trusted business advisors to support our clients in achieving their business objectives - whether it be reshaping their businesses through acquisitions, mergers, divestments or supply-chain transformation. Starting with Malaysia, we look forward to the gradual resumption of more business travel across our neighbouring countries in South-east Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar), where the majority of our businesses are conducted.