Cambodia will export guest workers to Qatar under a memorandum of understanding currently being negotiated, a senior official at the Ministry of Labor told the Post on July 8. The negotiations commenced following the visit of a Qatari delegation in early April led by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani to set up diplomatic relation between the two nations. The ministry official said he was unsure of the numbers of Cambodian workers that would be authorized, but said they would need to acquire additional skills to work outside of Cambodia. He called on Cambodians to stop working illegally in Thailand. To be safe, he said, workers should apply for jobs abroad via a lawful employment agency. Cambodia has already sent as many as 20,000 guest workers to Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.