Thailand, a key staging ground for human smugglers selling passage to Canada, has agreed to deepen its co-operation with Ottawa to combat illegal migration.

The announcement followed a meeting between Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's special envoy on human smuggling, Ward Elcock.

The Thai foreign ministry said in a news release it was willing to share "know-how and best practices" with Canada and organize training courses for enforcement agencies, The National Post reported.

The release also said it was ready to work with Canadian officials to "provide assistance on socio-economic development to countries of origin as a preemptive measure to address the problem."

"Of the large number of human smuggling networks around the world, several in South Asia specifically serve Sri Lankans, though not exclusively," says a declassified Canadian intelligence report, titled 'LTTE Involvement in Human Smuggling'.

The Conservative government has struggled to come up with measures to curb migrant smuggling since a cargo vessel was seized off the West Coast last August with 492 Sri Lankan refugee claimants on board.

The ship had sailed from Thailand. Another ship arrived off Vancouver Island in October 2009 carrying 76 Sri Lankans who had boarded in Malaysia.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews unveiled controversial human smuggling legislation last month but they also say they need better co-operation from their Southeast Asian allies.

Asked about the Thai statement, a spokesman for Mr. Toews said Ottawa was "working closely with authorities in transit countries, such as Thailand, to detect and prevent human smuggling operations before they reach Canada."

"While we will not comment on specific operational practices, stronger co-operation with authorities in transit countries such as Thailand is part of the government of Canada's overall strategy to prevent human smugglers from abusing Canada's generous immigration system," Christopher McCluskey said.

Since Mr. Elcock, a former CSIS director, was appointed the Prime Minister's envoy on migrant smuggling, Thai authorities have arrested more than 250 Sri Lankans, some of whom were awaiting passage to Canada.

Mr. Elcock paid what was described as a "courtesy call" to Thailand's foreign minister in Bangkok last Friday. According to the Thai government's account, Mr. Elcock "stated that the Canadian government has considered human trafficking and people smuggling as well as illegal migration as a political issue."

"At present, there are huge numbers of illegal migrants in Canada. In this regard, Mr. Elcock expressed his wish to cooperate with the Thai authorities in monitoring the movement of people, who may wish to transit Thailand and enter into Canada illegally."

Canadian Tamil Congress spokesman David Poopalapillai appealed to governments to ensure their policies distinguish between refugees and smugglers. "These are two different issues," he said.