A MEETING between Myanmar and Thailand on the establishment of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation to combat human trafficking was held Bangkok from November 27 to 29.

Lieutenant Colonel Rallyan Mone, the deputy head of Myanmar’s Department Against Transnational Crime, said the meeting was aimed at reviewing the first draft of the proposed MOU and identifying steps that had to be taken before it could be signed.

The establishment of the bilateral agreement was one of the activities undertaken under the Project Proposal Concept 4 of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) Sub-regional Plan of Action.

“Human traffickers have used various techniques to traffic people between Thailand and Myanmar so we need a bilateral MOU to combat the crime,” Lt Col Rallyan Mone said, adding that he believed signing the agreement would help the two countries control the problem.

“We will finalise the agreement in February at a meeting hosted by Myanmar,” he said.

The meeting was attended by officers from the United Nations Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (UNIAP), Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour, Office of the Attorney General, Supreme Court, Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project and International Organisation for Migration.