Labour Minister General Sirichai Distakul gave a speech at the second CLMTV Ministerial Meeting on Labour in Da Nang, on 2 August 2017, which was commenced by Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam H.E. Mr. Vu Duc Dam. The Labour Minister affirmed the necessity for management of migration to ensure legality in each country; he said that mismanagement could lead to illegal migration and possible human trafficking. In addition to this, the meeting approved the CLMTV Joint Declaration on safe labour migration, in continuation from the senior labour official’s meeting prior. Key agendas included safe labour migration and the importance given to consideration of differences in context of society and economy from each member nation and the importance of cross-country cooperation and collaboration between public and private sectors. Other key agendas included strengthening management systems and promoting legal migration through bilateral agreements. The third meeting in 2 years’ time will be hosted in Cambodia, whereas Thailand was the host for the first meeting 2 years ago.
General Sirichai said that the bilateral meeting with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam had progress on migration and labour issues. He said that meeting was an important foundation for identifying win-win outcomes for all nations, within differing legal, societal and economical contexts. Strengthened bilateral agreements will form a more solid CLMTV and further strengthen the ASEN group. In the meeting with Laotian Minister of Labour and Social Welfare H.E. Mr. Khampheng Saysompheng, who agreed to partnership in resolving illegal migrant issues in Thailand. In addition to establishing the citizenship verification center for the estimated 71,000 pink card holders in IT Square Laksi, further meetings with other relevant Laotian units will take place to prepare for distribution of passports to the 60,000 in demand – this will mean Laotian workers can obtain their passports without returning to Laos.
In the meeting between Thailand and Myanmar, Burmese Minister of Labour, immigration and Population H.E. Mr. U Thein Swe commended Thailand’s efforts on labour management where a forecasted 350,000 undocumented workers are expected to register intent to work in Thailand. Priority will be given to the citizenship verification process first, where more officers and centers will be established in Thailand to support the volume, in addition to the existing 6 service stations. Consensus was also given to establishing a committee assigned to working on a government-to-government working system for migrant workers in the Thai fishing industry. The Burmese minister showed interest in Thailand’s social security system where he will assign officers to conduct further study on the Thai social security.
As for the bilateral meeting with Vietnam, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs H.E. Dao Ngoc Dung discussed the professions migrant workers are permitted to occupy in Thailand. The Thai Ministry of Labour is currently working on this whereby inviting all relevant sectors such as the Federation of Industries, Chamber of Commerce and various associations and academics to discuss, with a conclusion expected shortly. Both parties will continue to process the MOU on cooperation for labour in the fishing industry.
“In this CLMTV ministerial meeting, all member countries agrees on Thailand’s measures for foreign worker management through legislation, which will be used as a model for other nations. In addition to this, all countries showed interest in the statistics of undocumented workers in Thailand, which was previously reported in the news as reaching 2-3 million people; after 10 days of operations, the true statistics have no yet reached 400,000. The Ministry of Labour’s Department of Employment has forecasted a total of 800,000 workers, and has already prepared 100 centers to support the registrations. After 7 August, we will know the real population of migrant workers and the professions they occupy. This will be communicated to the CLMTV nations so we can work together on the next steps,” concluded General Sirichai.
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Spokesperson and Publication Sub-Division
Bureau of Public Relations, Office of the Permanent Secretary
3 August 2017
