Speaking to cabinet ministers in the capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday, Thein Sein urged his government to create job opportunities to enable Myanmar's migrant workers to return.
Myanmar hopes to experience an economic boom under the elected government of President Thein Sein, whose reforms have caused Western nations to ease sanctions imposed during the previous repressive military regime.
In his 40-minute speech, which was broadcast live on state television, Thein Sein told his cabinet ministers to lay down a reform strategy to help boost the economy.
“Only when there is developments in the region can Myanmar workers who had to leave their families and work in other countries facing various difficulties return to the country,” Thein Sein said.
Thailand hosts around 2.5 (m) million impoverished Burmese who work in low-skilled jobs as domestic servants or in manual labor industries like fisheries and the garment sector.
Thein Sein also spoke about the need for more effective privatization plans in energy, education, health, telecommunications sectors and stressed the need to efficiently use foreign aid and loans.
Myanmar, which was once known as Burma, had been an international pariah for decades under a military junta that quashed any hopes of democratic reform.
Following the 2010 election, which brought Thein Sein to power, the country has witnessed some reforms and a gradual opening up to the rest of the world.
Still, Myanmar needs a top-to-bottom overhaul of its economy, education, health and banking systems and a plan to unify the country's ethnic groups after years of guerrilla warfare with the junta.
As a sign of the ongoing reforms, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest 19 months ago and currently is on a tour of Europe where she belatedly accepted her Nobel Peace Prize.
