To: Ministry of Health of Vietnam

According to the Official Dispatch No. 14123/BGTVT-CYT of Vietnam dated December 31, 2021 of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam advising countries where have the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam provides discussion with the Ministry of Health of Vietnam about the following contents:

1. According to the directives of Pham Binh Minh specified in Announcement No. 334/TB-VPCP dated December 10, 2021 of the Government Office, the Ministry of Transport cooperated with central and local authorities in actively implementing the plan for reopening of scheduled international commercial passenger flights approved by the Government Leaders. The Ministry of Transport proposed the policy on increase in the frequency of scheduled international commercial passenger flights and market expansion applied the pilot period to Europe (including France, Germany, Russia) and Australia to the Prime Minister of Vietnam for consideration.

2. At working sessions with the overseas Vietnamese community within the framework of official visits of senior leaders to Europe including Switzerland, Russia, UK, France, Belgium, Germany,..., the senior leaders of Vietnam collected many opinions from overseas Vietnamese people who want scheduled international passenger flights to be reopened to return to Vietnam to celebrate 2022 Lunar New Year. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are a large number of Vietnamese people who want to return home, so it is necessary to reopen scheduled international flights from European countries.

The Ministry of Transport also received Official dispatch No. 54/TCTHK-KHPT dated January 17, 2022 from Vietnam Airlines Corporation - JSC and Official dispatch No. 133/CHK-VTHK dated January 12, 2022 from the Civil Aviation Authority on no proposals of airlines for reopening of scheduled international flights to Europe via France, Germany, UK and Russia.

3. To implement directives of Prime Minister at Official Telegram No. 9406/CD-VPCP dated December 23, 2021 and proactively prevent Omicron variant that can be spread on scheduled international commercial flights, the Ministry of Transport requests the Ministry of Health to comment on the proposal for reopening of international flights to the European countries via France, Germany, the UK and Russia; at the same time, continue to notify of the situation of disease caused by Omicron variant in the world to serve as a basis for research and consideration to expand the market of reopening of international flights in the future.

Due to the urgent time, please reply before January 20, 2022 to implement the next steps./.

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PP. MINISTER
THE DEPUTY MINISTER




Le Anh Tuan