Laos, Thailand agree on setting up anti-human trafficking centre

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND, October 27 (TNA) - Thailand and neighbour Laos have agreed to set up a Thai-Lao friendship social development centre designed for solving cross-border human trafficking-related issues. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told journalists on October 26, after the 20th Thai-Lao Joint Commission (JC) Meeting held in Chiang Rai Province in the Thai North, that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the establishment of the centre was signed at the meeting. More than 100 Thai and Lao officials participated in the meeting, with the Lao side headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. Don said that the centre would be set up in Phon Hong area in Vientiane, Laos' capital, and the Thai government would help finance its construction cost and train the centre's officials. According to the Thai foreign minister, both sides also agreed to sign an agreement on security cooperation along their border for the first time, while a meeting between Laos, Thailand and Vietnam would be held before the end of this year to urgently open a bus route linking the three neighbouring countries, aimed at boosting their domestic and regional tourism industry. Besides, Monday’s meeting discussed a plan proposed by Thailand to allow people of the two countries to cross and daily work in another country. If agreed, the minister noted, the plan would increase income and skills of the Lao workers. (TNA) of the Lao workers.#END