VIENTIANE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government has promised continuing support to Laos to help victims of human trafficking in the country, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.

The new Ambassador of Thailand to Laos Kiattikhun Chartprasert confirmed this week a forecast budget of about 25 million baht (some 773 thousand U.S. dollars) for construction of the Laos-Thailand Friendship Social Development Center when talking to Lao Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Khampheng Saysompheng.

The project is expected to commence construction at the end of this year, according to the report.

The center will help Lao victims of human trafficking while providing training and information to them, they can go to Thailand to work.

The center will receive Lao workers who want to work in Thailand as part of the cooperation between the two labor ministries.

The new center will serve as a hub for resource development and facilitate cooperation between Laos and Thailand for model service centers in the training and labor fields.

Thai authorities are also supporting employers or businesses wishing to hire Lao workers, thus benefiting both employers and employees according to the laws of the two countries.

The support is a result of the two governments and labor ministries implementing a memorandum of understanding signed in 2005 to cooperate on preventing human trafficking and a labor cooperation agreement signed in 2017.

The Thai government also opened assistance centers in Thai capital Bangkok and other provinces to upgrade the status of Lao workers currently holding pink cards in Thailand, including illegal workers wanting to return home.