Marcos trip to Prague highlights OFW demand in Central, Eastern Europe —envoy By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA Integrated News

PRAGUE - Philippine Ambassador to the Czech Republic Eduardo Martin Meñez on Thursday said President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.'s state visit would highlight the increasing demand for Filipino workers in Central and Eastern Europe. ''So the visit of the President is also significant for this point because the Czech Republic is sort of like, a symbol or representative of the demand for Filipino workers in Central and Eastern Europe,'' Meñez said in an interview. "So it is a very opportune time for the President to come and visit this country. And also to make sure that the conditions for our workers are good," she added. According to Meñez, one of the deliverables for Marcos' visit is a labor consultation mechanism ''for us to ensure that we are able to study the data, look at the trends and work with the Czech government to address future problems or emerging problems." The Filipino official reiterated that the quota on the number of Filipinos working in the Czech Republic alone could increase to 10,300 by May of this year. ''The Czech government and the employers in the Czech Republic have seen how well the Filipino workers have adapted and how hard they work, and the productivity of the companies that have hired them has also gone up,'' he said. When it comes to trade and investment, Meñez said the complementary strengths and efforts of both countries allow for economic cooperation to flourish as started by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala when he visited Manila last year. Marcos also brought a business delegation to Prague that will participate in two business forums during his state visit, according to the envoy. He said Marcos is the first Asian head of state or more notably, the first Indo-Pacific head of state, who embarked on a visit to the Czech Republic under the administration of President Petr Pavel. —KBK, GMA Integrated News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday
Read more