KUWAIT:The National Assembly's foreign relations committee yesterday declared the assembly's full support to the government measures against the Philippines over the labor dispute between the two countries. The panel's position comes as the Kuwait and the Philippines are scheduled to sign a labor cooperation agreement to provide more protection to some 260,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait.

Manila also partially lifted a total ban on the departure of its nationals to Kuwait allowing skilled laborers to go back to their work in Kuwait while the ban continues on domestic helpers who constitute the majority of Filipinos in Kuwait.

Rapporteur of the panel MP Mohammad Al-Huwailah said after the committee meeting yesterday that the panel totally supports all the measures taken by the foreign ministry for the sake of safeguarding Kuwait's sovereignty and respecting the country's laws.

He said that Kuwaiti laws had been breached in a flagrant way and blamed the Philippines for escalating the dispute, and stressed that the foreign ministry should deal with the issue in a decisive manner.

Huwailah said that Kuwait enjoys a good human rights record and the Filipino community receives full respect and its rights and well-protected, adding that the measures taken by the Philippine authorities followed by violations committed by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait are "totally unacceptable." The lawmaker said the committee will at a later date invite the foreign ministry to discuss the issue in detail.

By B Izzak