BANGKOK, 8 September 2011 – The Department of Trade Negotiations (DTN) has suggested that the Ministry of Labour should firstly open free market only to businesses with readiness to do so upon the upcoming establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
DTN Strategy on Trade in Services Division Director Ronnarong Phoolpipat admitted that the free market system has been advancing well in the fields of trade, investment and services, but there is not much progress on free transfer of labour in the region because the agreement on this aspect is unclear.
The director said each country has different interpretations of the word ‘labour’ because it can refer to executives, experts, skilled and unskilled labour. He hence encouraged the Ministry of Labour to consider this issue thoroughly before the country enters into international commitments as they cannot be altered once signed.
Mr Ronnarong noted that the Ministry of Labour and other units in Thailand understand that a free labour market will be firstly applied to eight professions namely engineer, nurse, architect, explorer, doctor, dentist, accountant and tourism related professions.
The director said that actually Thailand should make preparations for the professions with readiness for free market first and later extend the scope to cover other professions depending on their readiness.
Mr Ronnarong added that laws should be amended to allow more ASEAN citizens to work in Thailand; nonetheless, he indicated that a free flow of labour should not be completely allowed in order to protect national security and interest.
