Labour Minister Chalerm Yubamrung will this month sign an agreement on conditions for the employment of Thai workers in Qatar, labour permanent secretary Jirasak Sukonthachart said on Wednesday.
Mr Jirasak, who is also acting secretary-general of the Social Security Office, said the ratification will cover employment contracts, travel expenses and salary and will be agreed with Qatar's ambassador to Thailand.
He said the ratification is needed since Qatar wants to recruit as many as 30,000 Thai workers to work in various fields such as architecture and engineering, and will include technical experts and crews for its flagship airline Qatar Airways.
At present about 200 Thais are employed by the airline. After the signing of the ratification, the number of Thais working with Qatar Airways will double, Mr Jirasak said.
Prawit Kiangphol, director-general of the Employment Department, said the department is formulating a new system to take care of Thai workers working abroad and foreign workers working in Thailand, to ensure they are well protected by the law.
He said the system would focus on travel and brokerage expenses of working abroad and prevent staff from losing out financially.
Representatives from countries popular with Thai workers such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Israel will be invited to give their views on the initiative in November.
Representatives from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos and the International Labour Organisation will also be invited to discuss the matter to show that Thailand is serious about solving problems related to human trafficking, Mr Prawit said.
On a proposal to bring 50,000 Bangladeshi workers into the country to work in the fishery and construction industries, Mr Chalerm said the plan has not been forwarded to the cabinet for consideration because the government wants to first establish a system to effectively supervise both Thai and foreign workers.