Thailand, Lao PDR reach new agreement on labour cooperation

BANGKOK, September 11 (TNA) - Thailand and Lao PDR have reached a new agreement on labour cooperation to provide more facilitations to Lao legal migrant workers employed by the Thai business sector. The new agreement was reached at a two-day technical-level meeting between Thai and Lao government representatives, held in Bangkok during September 9-10. Waranont Pitiwan, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Labour's Department of Employment, who heads the Thai delegation, and Anuson khamsingsavath, Acting Director-General of the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare's Department of Skill Development and Employment, who heads the Lao delegation, signed the Minutes of the weekend meeting, representing the new agreement. Under the agreement, Waranont said, Lao legally-registered migrant workers, with an official certificate issued by the Thai Ministry of Labour, whose passports and and visa have not yet expired are allowed to temporarily visit their home country without having to seek for the Laissez-Passer, but this group of Lao legally-registered migrant workers, with an official certificate issued by the Thai Ministry of Labour, whose passports and and visa have already expired, or they have overstayed in Thailand, need to seek for the Laissez-Passer at the Lao Embassy in Bangkok or the Lao Consulate General in Khon Kaen Province in the Thai Northeast to temporarily visit their home country within a period of five days. Waranont told journalists that both groups of the Lao legally-registered migrant workers, mentioned above, are required to report to and register with one of a total of seven notification centers set up by the Lao government to choose either one of 20 legally-registered employment firms, or an employment service center, which is authorized to send them back to work legally in Thailand within the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) endorsed by both the Thai and the Lao governments. Waranont revealed that Lao legal migrant workers who have already reported to one of the seven official notification centers, located in Vientiane, Champasak, Salavan, Savannakhet, Khammouan, Xaignabouli and Bangkok, will receive only a certificate approved by both the Thai and the Lao Ministries of Labour, instead of a demand letter and other official documents previously required, in order to help shorthen legal procedures and to provide more facilitations to the migrant workers. According to the senior Thai official, the Lao side has agreed to report the number of Lao migrant workers who are issued the Laissez-Passer for data gathering and the issuance of work permits by Thai authorities, while the Thai side will open another center in Mukdahan Province in the Thai Northeast, apart from the existing center in adjacent Nong Khai Province, for Lao legal migrant workers to report the dates they start and stop working in Thailand, based on their legal employment contracts. The senior Thai official revealed that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs will, on the other hand, facilitate the authorized employment firms to issue the Non-Immigrant L-A Visa at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane and the Thai Consulate General in Savannakhet, the latter of which requires, however, that Lao legal migrant workers apply for the visa personally. The senior official stated that both the Thai and the Lao sides have agreed to launch their public relations (PR) campaigns to create proper understanding among relevant parties on the agreed procedures and to hold their next meeting in Lao PDR. Meanwhile, the two-day meeting was reported that there have been 80,475 Lao legal migrant workers, out of a total of over 650,000 migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos PDR and Myanmar, who have passed an official check on true relations based on employment contracts with their employers in Thailand during the previous report period from August 8 to September 5, 2017. (TNA)