Demand for Pinoy engineers, nurses up in Aussie and NZ

CEBU, Philippines - Diplomatic officials from Australia and New Zealand recently announced the increasing demand for Filipino nurses and engineers in their respective countries, which opens up more opportunities for Filipinos to work abroad.

Following the implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) in January of this year, these two countries vowed to increase the demand for healthcare and skilled workers in their nations.

According to the FTA, New Zealand will allow up to 100 Philippine nurses to work there as registered nurses at any one time for a period of three years. Nurses will be given working visas even while they are undergoing the required bridging courses and exam.

New Zealand will also allow up to 20 Philippine farm managers and 20 Philippine engineering professionals to enter the country at any one time for a period of three years.

New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Andrew Matheson bared that the New Zealand government has also agreed to work with the Philippines to help develop the local dairy industry, an industry that currently supplies only about one percent of this country’s demand.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry to raise awareness on the benefits of the agreement to the Cebu business community through a seminar held here recently.

New Zealand and the Philippines may also enter into negotiations for a reciprocal working holiday scheme open to up to 100 citizens of each country. This will allow young people to stay for up to a year and work to support their extended vacation.

Matheson also announced that New Zealand, subject to certain conditions, would allow the entry of independent professional service suppliers for up to one year, and entry of business visitors, installers for up to three months in any calendar year.

“The trade negotiators have done their jobs and it is now up to businesses to take advantage of this agreement and let the benefits of the AANZFTA flow through to businesses and consumers,” said Matheson.

Likewise, Australia has announced that under the AANZFTA, it will provide opportunities for Filipino professionals and skilled workers, as Australia expanded the definition of Contractual Service Suppliers in its movement of natural persons (MNP) commitment to cover both professionals, including nurses, and skilled workers.

The agreement states that Australia will accord fully working rights to spouses of intra-corporate transferees, independent executives and Contractual Service Suppliers if their stay is greater than 12 months.

CCCI President Samuel Chioson said Cebu should take advantage of the agreement but warned that it also poses a challenge to local business to improve their productivity and competitiveness in terms of product quality, so it can stay ahead of its neighboring countries despite the open market access.

“We need to invest in infrastructure, technology and machineries to further stay ahead in the global market competition,” Chioson said.

The AANZFTA is the first comprehensive economic agreement entered into by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which is a big step forward for the ten-nation bloc. The Asean has made commitment in three economic pillars of goods, services, and investments, as well as other subjects covered in a modern FTA.

It opens the door to greater trade between Australia and New Zealand and to more than 600 million people in the Asean, which include countries like.