Thailand And Myanmar Collaborates On Managing Foreign Workers Emphasizing Good Neighbour Relations

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Thailand and Myanmar have joined together to drive systematic management of inflowing workers, emphasizing collaboration on the foundation of being good neighbours. The Labour Minister highlighted that the 10 ASEAN countries will need to work closely together in terms of labour and skill standards. Myanmar is also ready to send 5 working teams to be stationed at service centers and 21 teams specifically to collect information on the citizenship verification for Thailand.

In the Ministers meeting between Thailand and Myanmar, Labour Minister General Surasak Karnjanarat talked about the policies by Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha on the 10 ASEAN member countries having to cooperate on the foundation of close relations, encompassing understanding for each country’s problems. Resulting from this, the resolution for different issues will need collaboration from all members for communal benefits. Therefore, he said that in forming the ASEAN Economic Community towards the end of 2015 and entering into the AEC in 2016, the 10 ASEAN member countries must cooperate more on labour issues. The conclusions from the meeting on this occasion was a direction to creative solutions for the future.

“In finding resolutions for Myanmar workers in Thailand, all parties should leave behind past problems and forget worries for what may happen after today. I hope that all parties turn all problems into easy solutions with clear understanding of one another,” said the Labour Minister.

The Labour Minister further said that in the past, Thailand was an exporter of workers, but have now become both an exporter and importer of workers. He added that if Thailand and Myanmar maintain a close relationship, there will likely be increased flexibility for workers along the border by using a border pass. There have also been studies on special entry types into the Special Economic Zones in Thailand which look promising. The Labour Minister reiterated that there must be collaboration on the standards of skills in order to set targets for the future on skill standards on a local, regional and international level.

The Minister on Labour, Employment and Social Security of Myanmar stated that he considered the meeting a successful one for both parties. On behalf of Myanmar, he thanked Thailand for the time period extension for the citizenship verification process by extending the time for pink card holders by 1 year. Furthermore, Myanmar claimed preparedness in sending 5 teams to station at the One Stop Service centers and another 21 teams specifically to collect information on Myanmar workers holding pink cards. Operations for this will commence around May and will finish around November of 2015. For those that have no passed the verification or are still in process, the teams will issue a Certificate of Identity within the 1st April 2016.

“The special working teams collecting data will send the information to officers and officials in Thailand. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security will ensure continuous close collaboration with Thailand for the benefit of both sides. Any issue that can be resolved from this consultation will be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers in Myanmar for further facilitation,” said the Myanmar Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security.

On the 19th March, the Thai Ministry of Labour and the Myanmar Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security met on a Ministerial level for the MOU on employment and to report progress on the registration and citizenship verification of Myanmar workers in Thailand. The meeting also allowed for the acknowledgement on the management of labour, the extended time period for the citizenship verification of Myanmar, Laotian and Cambodian workers and resolutions for labour shortages in the fisheries industry by the Cabinet on the 3rd March 2015. In the meeting, there was also the revision on the Memorandum of Understanding between Thailand and Myanmar on labour issues with Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr. Arrug Phommanee and Mr. U Myo Aung, Minister of the Labour, Employment and Social Security from Myanmar as national representatives.

By: Wichulada Buachai, Bureau of Public Relations, Ministry of Labour

Published on: 20 March 2015