For the next 15 years, Kuwait expects to complete major infrastructure projects that have an estimated USD50 billion budget and they need the help of over a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to accomplish the tasks.

The recent signing of several partnership agreements between the governments of Kuwait and the Philippines is a clear proof that the Middle Eastern country strongly prefers hiring OFWs.

The signing was done in an expanded bilateral meeting held in the Malacañang Palace and no less than the leaders of the two countries were present; Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Prime Minister Nasser said, “We welcome you to Kuwait to be your second home. We have so many projects now on board. We ask our brothers in the Philippines to help us — nurses, doctors, engineers, in all fields. This is what we are offering, no quota on Filipino workers going to Kuwait."

The minister informed that various development projects include railway, container port, an entertainment city, five new cities, bridges and many others. President Arroyo in turn thanked the minister for opening the door of Kuwait to more OFWs.

In a separate statement, President Arroyo said, ''You have been so kind to our Filipinos there. We welcome Kuwait‘s interest and trust in our economy."

In the said meeting, Prime Minister Nasser also made known his intention to promote commercial relations and investment cooperation between the Philippines and Kuwait. Nasser said that he recognized the contributions of OFWs to the development of Kuwait.

Among the agreements the Philippines and Kuwaiti had entered were joint undertaking in energy projects, strengthening of health related services, and enhanced tourism investments and exchanges between the two countries.

In lieu with this, a group of OFWs based in the Middle East are pushing the Arroyo government to create a bilateral agreement that would guarantee the rights and welfare of Filipino workers in Kuwait.

The regional coordinator for Migrante-Middle East (ME), John Leonard Monterona, said, "It is imperative that the Arroyo government and the Kuwait government, as the sending and receiving states respectively, should conclude first a bilateral agreement respecting the rights of migrant workers as embodied in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families."

 
Monterona added, "Aside from concluding a labor rights agreement, the Arroyo administration if it's truly cares for our OFWs, should work also for the standardization of OFWs salary in order for them also to cope with the fast rising inflation in Kuwait and even in the Philippines."