Germany working on new immigration law to attract more Filipino workers

Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — Germany is hoping to attract more workers from the Philippines through a new immigration law, citing the profound contributions of Filipino workers to their local industries who have since relocated there.

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock, in a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, said they are grateful that there are “many people in the past [that] traveled from the Philippines to Germany and stayed [there] in order to work.” 

“Thousands [of] skilled and qualified personnel from the Philippines work in Germany as I’ve said and we felt the qualifications and expertise of these people,” Baerbock said on Monday.

In 2013, Berlin and Manila inked a deal called the Triple Win Program, which facilitates the deployment of workers in the healthcare industry to Germany. 

More Filipino healthcare workers may be deployed to Germany as the two countries inked another deal that will open up more opportunities for Filipino healthcare workers, skilled workers, and other professionals. 

“As a federal government, we are drafting and working on a new law on immigration, especially with an eye to attracting skilled labor and qualified labor,” Baerbock said.

“Thus, our cooperation with you in that area is of the greatest importance. It’s also very much about ensuring equal conditions and standards for skilled labor.”

Manalo was in Germany to attend this year’s Munich Security Conference. While there, Baerbock also underscored the importance of following international law when it comes to matters related to maritime claims. 

Climate change support

Aside from labor and securing the rights of migrant workers, the two leaders also discussed the importance of climate change and its impact on the population.

“The Philippines, by virtue of its geographic circumstances and location, is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world, which is why making the country climate-smart and disaster-ready is a priority of the Philippine government and we know we have a reliable partner in this regard with the German government,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo said. 

Berlin also pointed out that Manila, despite having “relatively low” CO2 and gas emissions, bears the brunt of its consequences. Baerbock noted the importance of putting up a loss and damage fund. 

She also said the Philippines is already among the priority countries of its International Climate Initiative, Germany’s climate financing commitment to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and over €50 million has been allocated to support the Philippines. 

“[The Philippines] also set out on an ambitious course in the field of energy transition and focus more on getting electricity from renewables,” Baerbock noted. 

Both officials also recognized other aspects of the bilateral relationship, such as working with Gemany on the peace process in Mindanao and in ensuring that international rules-based order is abided by parties in the West Philippine Sea, and in improving the human rights protections in the Philippines.