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Point of view on the implementation of MRAs

by Ms. Kejpiroon Kohsuwan, representative from the Department
of Trade Negotiation

In my opinion, Thailand has the most liberal employment
regime among all countries in ASEAN. According to Thai domestic

regulations, there are only thirty-nine occupations which are
reserved for Thai people and the rest of occupations are open
to foreigners. Furthermore, the implementation of MRAs for

eight professions helps facilitate worker mobilization in the
region by the qualification recognition; in other words, if you

are an engineer in Singapore, the Thai Council of Engineers
will recognize your education and your practice in Singapore.

However, there are still a lot of challenges for the

implementation. Some may say that the domestic regulations,
especially, those related to work permit conditions and

immigration restrictions, are the barriers. At the same time,
nonetheless, these rules are actually for maintaining national
security by preventing harmful persons from coming into the

country. Therefore, I just want to share that if there is a need to
review the domestic regulations to facilitate the implementation,

it is necessary that we need to make a balance between the
worker mobilization in the region and national security.

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