Permanent foreign secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow called in the Cambodian ambassador, Eat Sophea, on Tuesday and asked that Cambodian authorities tell their people to return to their jobs in Thailand.
Cambodian workers leave the Aranyaprathet train station in Sa Kaeo on their way back to their homeland on Monday. (Photo by Thanarak Khunton)
The 30-minute meeting at the ministry followed the rushed departure of more than 100,000 Cambodian illegal workers from Thailand, who returned home over the past week for fear the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) would arrest them.
After the meeting, Mr Sihasak told a press conference that the Cambodian workers' fears were based on groundless rumour.
Thailand planned only to legalise all alien workers so they would not continue to be victimised by human traffickers and would be entitled to the same legal protection and welfare that Thai workers receive.
Mr Sihasak it was hoped the exodus of foreign workers from Thailand would drop.
Cambodian and Myamar workers have been queueing at border crossings to return home after the rumours spread, resulting in a severe labour shortage in the construction and fisheries sectors and associated businesses.
Mrs Sophea said Thailand and Cambodia both wanted alien workers to have legal status in Thailand. The Cambodian government and Cambodian foreign affairs officials would explain the real situation to job seekers.
The ambassador also said that legal Cambodian workers in Thailand had no need for concern. Illegal workers should have their status legalised.
On Tuesday about 100 Cambodian workers entered Thailand from Poipet town through Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province.
They were legally brought in under a memorandum of understanding involving both countries and two companies, in Samut Prakan and Songkhla provinces, whose representatives picked them up at the border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet.
Capt Apinant Songkhram, a paramilitary ranger company commander of the Burapha Task Force, said that they were the first Cambodian workers to legally enter Thailand since the alien labour exodus began.