MANILA, 18 July 2006 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday invited Libyan businessmen to invest in the Philippines and at the same time an improvement in the welfare of Filipinos working in the Middle Eastern country.
Arroyo arrived in Tripoli Sunday evening and immediately held a one-on-one meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, according to a news report released by Malacañang Palace yesterday.
Arroyo also met members of the 8,000-strong Filipino community last night and assured them that their welfare was a key issue in her talks with Libyan officials.
“Based on information from the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, Filipino workers, particularly those in the medical profession, have complained about delayed remittances of their salaries, as well as poor accommodations,” said a report posted in the government’s official website.
“Although the situation has somewhat improved as a result of the embassy’s persistent lobbying, and the enforcement of new Libyan labor and employment regulations, the president was expected to push for better conditions for the Filipino migrant workers,” it added.
Most of the male Filipinos in Libya are employed in construction projects and in the oil sector, while most female OFWs are employed in the medical and other service sectors such as hotels.
Most of the work sites are located in this metropolis, Benghazi and Brega areas while hospitals are heavily concentrated in Tripoli and in Zawia, Benghazi and Beida regions.
Arroyo was hoping to forge with Libya an agreement in the form of a joint exploration venture in the Philippines, the report said.
It said the Qaddafi Foundation had earlier expressed interest in a joint venture with the Philippine National oil Company (PNOC), a government owned corporation, in developing a 36,000-hectare palm oil plantation in North Cotabato’s Liguasan marsh in the southern Philippines.
“Prospects are bright for Philippine exports to this Mediterranean country, particularly farm products.
Because its soil and climatic conditions are not conducive to agricultural production, Libya imports 75 percent of its food requirements.
“It is this prospect, which the government’s economic team wants to tap in the course of the bilateral meetings,” said the report.
Filipino businessmen who were with the president were also optimistic about the prospects of Philippine garment exports to Libya, 60 percent of whose population belongs to the 15-64 age bracket, it said.
Last year, Libya ranked as the 137th trading partner of the Philippines and 151st as export market in the Middle East bloc.
Philippine exports to Libya include gear boxes for motor vehicles, aerosols, aerial reflectors, parts and accessories of automatic data processing equipment and other semiconductor devices, fruit juices and preserves and tuna.
On the other hand, Libyan exports to the Philippines include ethylene, flat-rolled iron, mechanical shovels and dumpers.
