The Philippine government has said the ban on Filipinos being sent to work in Kuwait will be partly lifted for skilled and semi-skilled workers.
The partial lifting of the deployment ban comes after the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Kuwait and the Philippines on the protection of Filipino workers in the Gulf state, Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
Philippine Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Kuwaiti deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah signed the Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers on Friday, CNN Philippines reported.
On Saturday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Department of Labor and Employment would ensure reforms in the recruitment of domestic workers before they can be deployed to Kuwait.
“There will be a mandatory training, to be paid by the recruiters, since they are the ones earning from the recruitment fee that they charge to the Kuwaitis wanting to employ domestic workers,” Roque said.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he sent a special envoy to relay a message to Kuwait’s government officials: “Salaam,” which means ‘peace’ in Arabic, Arab News reported.