Bangkok Targets Burma in Special Border Trade Plan

A Thai soldier on patrol walks past migrant workers from Burma sitting at a market in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on Nov. 7, 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

The military junta now governing Thailand is pressing forward with plans to create a special status border trading area with Burma as Thai overland exports mushroom and financiers urge the establishment of border factories.

The move could lead to greater control of migrant Burmese labor by attempting to confine foreign workers to the zones, a report said.

Special-purpose economic zones dotted along Thailand’s borders have been on the debating table in Bangkok for more than a decade, but the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is now promoting action.

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