Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has signed an agreement with the top health official of Germany in a bid to facilitate the entry of more Filipino healthcare professionals to the European country.
The entry of more Filipino healthcare workers was stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Bello and Germany’s Federal Health Secretary Dr. Karl Lauterbach and will complement the Triple Win Project (TWP).
The TWP is a landmark government-to-government agreement signed by both countries in 2013 which was aimed at enhancing the existing private recruitment track for nurses and other healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, radiographers, occupational therapists wishing to enter the German labor market.
Aside from healthcare workers, Bello said the Philippines and Germany are also advancing the entry of an initial set of Filipino skilled workers and professionals into Germany among them electronics and electrical mechanics, plumbers, pipe fitters, cooks, waiters and hotel receptionists.
This was done through the signing of a Letter of Intent between the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration of the Republic of the Republic of the Philippines, represented by OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, and the Federal Employment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by Mr. Alexander Wilhelm, Director of International Cooperation of Germany’s Federal Employment Agency.
"The two instruments exhibit both countries’ commitment to expand cooperation in the area of recruitment, deployment and employment of Filipino professionals and skilled workers to Germany, and their adherence to the principles of fair and orderly migration," said Bello.
Currently, there are 6,000 Filipino nurses in Germany-- around 2,000 of them entered Germany through the TWP; and, 4,000 through the private track.
Germany needs an estimated 400,000 new workers from various professions and skills, every year.