The Ministry of Labour organized the signing ceremony on the “agreement for the implementation of the agreement between the Government of Israel and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the temporary employment of Thai labour in agriculture in the state of Israel.” The agreement aims to promote the protection of the rights of Thai workers traveling to work in the agricultural sector and allow the labour delivery process of both countries to continue.
On July 20, 2020, at 15.00 hours, Labour Minister M.R. Chatu Mongol Sonakul witnessed the signing ceremony of the agreement between the Government of Israel and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the temporary employment of Thai labour in agriculture in the state of Israel. The agreement was signed between the Department of Employment’s Director-General Mr. Suchat Pornchaiwiseskul, on behalf of the Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour and H.E. Mr. Meir Shlomo, Israeli Ambassador to Thailand, on behalf of the Department of Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PICA), Ministry of Interior, Israel. The meeting took place at the Jompol P. Pibulsongkram meeting room, 5th floor, Ministry of Labour.
The Labour Minister said that the agreement aims to protect the rights of Thai workers traveling to work in agriculture in the state of Israel and to continue the delivery process of both countries. The agreement is following the agreement between the Government of Israel and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the temporary employment of Thai workers in agriculture in the state of Israel, which was signed between the two countries by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel and the Thai Ambassador to Tel Aviv, Israel on July 13, 2020. In the next phase, Israel will take the signed agreement and submit it to the Israeli Parliament for approval and come into force. Both countries will be able to process the delivery of Thai workers to work in the agricultural sector in Israel immediately after countries open up when Covid-19 eases.
M.R. Chatu Mongol Sonakul added that as of June 2020, approximately 25,000 Thai workers were working in the state of Israel, most of whom were agricultural workers, deployed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) under the Thailand-Israel Cooperation on the Placement of Workers (TIC). The IOM will cease to support the implementation of the TIC on September 30, 2020, and will forward the mission of deploying Thai workers to work in agriculture in the state of Israel to the Department of Employment and PIBA.