At the signing ceremony (Source: rappler.com)Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippines and Kuwait on May 11 signed an agreement toresolve recent tensions regarding labour export.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Kuwait City with his Philippinecounterpart Alan Peter Cayetano, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaledal-Sabah said the agreement would provideadditional protection for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf country.
Under the agreement, (OFWs) will be allowed to keep theirpassports and mobile phones, and be given a day off per week.
Cayetanosaid the Philippines would appoint a new ambassador to Kuwait, adding that hewill propose the removal of the ban on labor export to Kuwait that had beenimposed earlier.
The meeting comes two weeks after Kuwait asked the Philippineambassador to the country to return home because of the embassy's rescue ofdistressed Filipino workers from private Kuwait homes without propercoordination with local authorities.
In February 2018, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued a temporary banon sending labourers to Kuwait after a Filipino female domestic helper in Kuwait wasmurdered. The ban has been shifted from a temporary status to a long-term statussince late April.
Statisticsfrom the Philippine Government show that about 262,000 Filipino labourers areworking in Kuwait, 60 percent of those are domestic helpers. -VNA
VNA
