The Philippine Embassy in Berne, Switzerland informed the Secretary of Foreign Affairs that a Swiss delegation led by His Excellency Eduard Gnesa, Special Ambassador for International Cooperation in Migration of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, met with officials of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its attached agencies, representatives from the nursing organization, and officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 26-29 March 2010 in Manila. Other members of the Swiss delegation include representatives from the Federal Office of Migration and the Federal Office for Public Health.

During their meeting with Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque, Ambassador Gnesa talked about Switzerland’s continuing discussions on policies dealing with migration and human resources to address the growing needs of health workers in Switzerland. He added that under the Philippine-Swiss Agreement on Exchange of Professionals and Technical Trainees, Switzerland and the Philippines could expand its human resource cooperation.

In response, Secretary Roque informed the Swiss delegation that the recent lifting of the deployment ban on au pairs for Switzerland by the Philippine government provides possible employment opportunities for Filipino health professionals to work in the Swiss healthcare sector.

Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Maria Theresa P. Lazaro stated that the visit of the Swiss delegation to the Philippines to know more about the Philippine migration management is a milestone and will certainly result to more concrete results in the coming year.