Kuwait discuss Philippines decision on laborer ban

KUNA

Kuwait Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah briefed the cabinet Monday about the President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte's "sudden" suspension of laborers' dispatch to Kuwait, which ran counter to mutual interest.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said Duterte's "sudden statement" prompted the relevant authorities in Kuwait to contact with authorities in Philippines to clarify the president's statement.

He said the president mentioned individual cases which did not apply to the majority, and those cases were subjected to legal procedures.

The State of Kuwait, said the top diplomat, has clean human rights record by which the expatriates enjoyed full rights.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said the laws in Kuwait were organizing relations between employees and employers, which encouraged many nationalities to come work in Kuwait.

The Foreign Ministry summoned yesterday Ambassador of the Philippines, Renato Pedro Villa, and expressed regret and bewilderment toward Duterte's decision to suspend dispatch of laborers to Kuwait.

Such a stance contradicts nature of the distinctive ties between the two countries and does not serve their common interests, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah said.

Al-Jarallah added that the Kuwaiti side noted to the ambassador that freedoms and rights enjoyed by the expatriate communities in the country contributed to lifting number of the Filipino workers to 276,000.

Moreover, the Kuwaiti side expressed readiness to host Filipino diplomats to discuss conditions of the community and follow up on Filipinos' problems. Al-Jarallah added that the envoy was asked to seek to lift the ban. The Filipino envoy praised the cooperation the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and pledged to recommend to his government to end the ban soon.