Berlin. 22 November 2012. Ambassador Maria Cleofe Natividad met with officials of the International Department of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales – BMAS) on 13 November to discuss details of the upcoming “expert talks” on social security cooperation between the Philippines and Germany. Officials from the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System will lead the talks which will take place March 2013.
Ambassador Maria Cleofe Natividad and Minister Mardomel Melicor pose with officials of the German Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs led by Mr. Wolfgang Heller.
Discussions on social security cooperation with Germany have a long history and the upcoming expert talks, which is considered to be the initial phase of negotiations, is a breakthrough. A bilateral social security agreement is expected to benefit Filipinos in Germany which estimated by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas at 55,800.
The Philippines has just recently concluded the final round of negotiations with the German Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) on the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA). END
