29 September 2020, Dubai, UAE - Philippine Consul General in Dubai Paul Raymund P. Cortes and his Kenyan counterpart, Consul General Peter Mwenda, led discussions on each country’s consular assistance extended to its nationals in Dubai and the Northern Emirates in a Zoom Consultative Meeting held on 29 September 2020.

Officials of both consular missions also participated in the meeting: from the PH side, Renato Dueñas Jr, Deputy Consul General; Elizabeth Ramos, Vice Consul; and Atty Felicitas Bay, Labor Attaché; and from the Kenyan side, Gideon Mwangi, First Counsellor; Mercy Odongo, Counsellor; James Ndiho, Labour  Attaché; and Kennedy Mose, Immigration Attaché.

The Kenyan consul general asserted that his country looks up to the Philippines as a “trailblazer” and a model in the field of promoting the interests of the country’s migrant workers and diaspora.

The Kenyan side was particularly interested in learning best practices from the Philippines including the system of deploying workers abroad, training and raising the skills levels of said workers, and the range of assistance provided to nationals in distress abroad.

The Philippines on its part shared its own experience in the field of overseas labor policy and management, and promotion and protection of rights and welfare of Filipino migrants, particularly in the Middle East region.

Both heads of consular missions found the meeting a fruitful exchange of best practices and agreed to pursue further activities towards stronger cooperation in the field of labor diaspora and migration.

The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai had previously held similar consultations with the Consulates General of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. That the Philippines leads discussions in sharing its migration experiences manifests its commitment to a progressive migration policy that promotes and protects the rights and well-being of its diaspora and its leading role in global migration discussions. END