MANILA – Slovenia is keen to recruit more skilled Filipino workers, including for its automotive and health-care sectors, and is working with the Philippines to strengthen its labor cooperation, visiting Slovenian Foreign Minister Tone Kajzer on Saturday said.
In an interview with the Philippine News Agency in Makati City, the Slovenian top diplomat said the two countries need to upgrade an existing labor deal, and make it more “specifically defined.”
“There are a few thousand Filipino workers in Slovenia. We have to make that cooperation even more efficient to have really an operational agreement,” he said.
“There is an agreement but it’s more like open — now we are continuing to have an agreement on specific skills and also regarding the health sector,” he added.
The top diplomat shared that Slovenia’s automotive industry has recently secured an investment from French automobile manufacturer Renault, and would “need additional skilled workers.”
“I know that now, quite a few hundred Filipino workers are working in that factory, and it is a highly technologically-advanced factory and they will need more skilled workers,” he added.
The minister said Slovenia also sees potential in the hiring of more workers from the Philippines, citing the good work ethics of Filipinos.
“I hear all the best things about people from the Philippines, and they are hardworking, diligent, humble, and that is creating a more positive image because certain circles would have this kind of prejudice that when foreign workers will come, they will take our jobs,” he said.
“In the case of Filipino workers, this is the opposite,” he added.
Kajzer, however, noted that recruitments in the sector should be accompanied by basic training before workers travel, including learning the local language.
“And I think that is the case also for other countries,” he added.
Local reports citing official data in Slovenia estimates that there are currently around 2,500 Filipinos in that country, mostly in the automotive sector, tourism and social care.
Beyond labor, Kajzer said Slovenia is open to discuss potential cooperation in more areas, including technology, water purification, defense and cybersecurity.
The minister said Slovenian companies are also exploring opportunities in the Philippines and that a business delegation had visited last year, with follow-up discussions underway. (PNA)
