BANGKOK, Nov 13 — The Lao government is ready to assign officials to Thailand to verify the identification of more than 200,000 registered Lao workers working here.
Thai Minister of Labour Gen Surasak Karnjanarat told the press, after welcoming Lao PDR Ambassador to Thailand Lee Boonkham and discussing the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on labour and identity inspection, that both sides agreed to update the agreement.
In addition both countries believed the MoU should be updated every 5 years or in line with any changing situation. Both countries’ officials would meet to revise the current MoU within October 2015 before the ASEAN Community (AC) formation on December 31, 2015.
As for verifying registered Lao workers in Thailand, the ambassador said his government would send officials to perform the task as soon as possible, and asked that Thailand assist in assigning venues for the task, which the Thai Labour Ministry has agreed. Provinces with the most Lao labourers would be the first places conduct the process.
The ambassador also voiced concern that the task might not be completed as agreed March 31, in which case, another round of talks would be needed to handle the matter.
Some 212,562 Lao labourers and 9,122 aides are registered as workers in Thailand. Each worker is expected to pay 3,000 baht each for identity inspections from both the Thai and Lao officials.
