MANILA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and Kuwait signed on Friday an agreement that commits the Kuwaiti government to protect the rights of Filipino maids in the Gulf state.
Philippine Foreign 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 in ceremonies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait.
"A few minutes ago, we brought the relationship between our two countries to a higher level with the formal signing of the Agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait on the Employment of Household Service Workers," Cayetano said in a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) of the Philippines on Friday.
"With the signing of the agreement and the approval of the additional guarantees that we asked our Kuwaiti friends to extend, more than 250,000 Filipinos in Kuwait can now be assured of prompt and effective assistance if needed," Cayetano said.
Cayetano did not go into the details of the agreement, and did not say if the ban to send new Filipino workers to Kuwait has been lifted in the wake of the signing of the agreement.
Cayetano said the agreement would not have been possible without the guidance of President Rodrigo Duterte who made it clear since the start that in the negotiations, the well-being of Filipinos abroad should always be paramount.
Cayetano thanked the Kuwaiti government "for their willingness to work with us to achieve our shared goals."
The diplomatic row between the Philippines and Kuwait intensified after a footage of a recent rescue of abused Filipino maids by Philippines Embassy staff in Kuwait. The rescue angered the Kuwaiti government, prompting it to order Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Rene Villa to leave the country and recalling its envoy in Manila.
The DFA distributed videos of the rescue mission that went viral online, further enraging Kuwait. Kuwait accused Manila of violating international laws and its sovereignty.
Kuwait is a major labor destination for Filipinos in the Middle East, with over 250,000 currently working there, mostly as domestic helpers.
However, recent incidents of abuses against them, where some resulted in deaths, prompted Manila to enforce a deployment ban for Filipino workers earlier this year.
