Germany welcomes Filipino nurses

MANILA, Philippines—Germany is opening its doors to Filipino nurses and Manila and Berlin are set to sign an agreement paving the way for the deployment of Philippine health workers with guarantees of professional training and a healthy work environment.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that German Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen is set to travel to Manila soon to formalize the deployment agreement with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

The signing follows a March 8 meeting between Philippine Ambassador to Germany Maria Cleofe Natividad and officials of the federal employment agency, International Placement Services (ZAV), in Bonn, said the DFA.

Supervised by Von der Leyen, the ZAV, along with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), “will ensure that Filipino nurses will have adequate linguistic and professional preparation, free of charge, prior to entry to Germany” as part of a “triple win formula.”

“It is all systems go for the Triple Win Project. When the agreement is signed, then we have a cooperation framework that enables Filipino nurses to work in Germany,” Natividad said in a statement.

She said the deployment agreement has safety nets to protect the Filipino workers’ rights.

“Under the agreement, Filipino workers may not be employed under working conditions less favorable than those comparable for German workers,” she said.

The DFA said the deployment agreement is part of the enhanced labor cooperation that Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle discussed in Manila last February.