Thai governors have assured the Philippine government of their support to combat the human trafficking situation in the Mekong Region that victimizes various nationalities, including Filipinos.

During the recent visit of Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Millicent Cruz Paredes to the northeastern region of Isan, she paid a courtesy call on Udon Thani Governor Wanchai Kongkasame and Nong Bua Lam Phu Governor Suwit Chanhaworn, who recognized the Filipino contribution to the kingdom.

Amid the recent cases of Filipinos being recruited to work as crypto scammers in the neighboring countries, such as Myanmar, Wanchai vowed to assist any Filipinos caught in distress while Suwit expressed his commitment to inform the Philippine embassy of any trafficking incident.

Paredes, who was on an official visit, expressed her appreciation for the Thai officials.

The country's diplomat's activities in Isan included her engagements with the Filipino Community in Udon Thani, such as the Palarong Pinoy 2023 which gathered all the Filipino community organizations in the northeast of Thailand; the oath taking of their organizations' officers and the Embassy's Awareness Campaign on the Trafficking in Persons Situation in the Mekong Region; and a Consular Outreach Mission for the Filipino nationals in Isan.

She then made a side trip to Nong Bua Lam Phu.

Paredes noted that the majority of the Filipino community work as English teachers in Thailand's public school and lauded their significant contribution to Udon Thani's  growth in economic, tourism, and transportation sectors of the Thai Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), as well as to Thai society, especially its youth.

Testament of strong people-to-people ties between the Philippines and Thailand includes the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding between Udon Thani Rajabhat University and Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in La Union, Philippines on joint degrees; teaching, research and cultural activities; among other forms of educational cooperation.