Lithuania eyeing more Filipino workers in maritime, health sectors—minister

Manila Bulletin

The Lithuanian government is looking to hire more Filipino workers in the transportation, maritime, and health sectors, with Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė citing Filipino workers’ “wonderful reputation.” (MB Video by Raymund Antonio)  READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/07/02/lithuania-eyeing-more-filipino-workers-in-maritime-health-sectorsminister  Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel! - https://www.youtube.com/TheManilaBulletin  Visit our website at http://mb.com.ph Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manilabulletin Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/manila_bulletin Instagram: https://instagram.com/manilabulletin Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com @manilabulletin-  #ManilaBulletinOnline #ManilaBulletin #LatestNews

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00:00We do need workers from other countries because Lithuania is an aging society.

00:07We lack workforce in areas such as, for example, transportation, social care, medical care.

00:14And we know that citizens of Philippines, they have a wonderful reputation in Europe and in other countries

00:23for being highly skilled, competent, reliable, and also Philippine society is Catholic.

00:32And people are overwhelmingly English-speaking, which is really important and very convenient for our society

00:41because, regretfully, Lithuania for the first time has such an unprecedented number of Russian-speaking migrant workers,

00:51which is a concern of national security for us because of their vulnerability due to relations to Russia or Belarus

01:03and unprecedented proactive action by special services of Russia and Belarus.

01:12So, therefore, Catholic, non-radical, highly ethical, highly skilled, English-speaking Filipino workers seem like a very natural priority to us.

01:24And I am supportive of my colleagues who are already working regarding this issue.

01:29How many Filipino workers I'd like to have in Lithuania?

01:33I would like to leave that number for the later, probably even higher-level visits to deliver.

01:41But my hope is to have a change from the current 220,000 Russian-speaking migrant workers from post-Soviet states

01:54to quite a large part of that number, I hope, could be from the Philippines.

02:03I wouldn't like now to specify the numbers.

02:06But also, this is also related very closely to, as I said, joint values as, for example, religion,

02:20because Lithuania is very homogenous in the religious sense.

02:24We are a very dominantly Catholic society, just like the Philippines.

02:28So I think that is a big connection.

02:30What I have also learned through the conversations that I had with my colleagues from the Philippines

02:37and several informal conversations, family is the main value here in the Philippines.

02:42Just like in Lithuania, family is exceptionally important.

02:45I think that also it gives quite a possibility of connection on the societal level.

02:51Then, language.

02:52People that are younger than 45 years, they don't speak Russian.

02:56They barely, well, most of them don't even understand Russian.

03:00Because 35 years ago, when we broke free from Russian occupation,

03:05there was no more mandatory requirement in schools to learn Russian language as the first foreign language.

03:11So, well, nobody speaks it.

03:13So, therefore, when we have people from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and et cetera,

03:23who don't speak English, then it's quite a problem, especially in the service sector.

03:28One more area that I can cover, again broadly, is what I have seen from my terms in National Security and Defense Committee.

03:38I'm a member of the Parliament as well, and this is my third term in National Security and Defense Committee,

03:44and we have organized several joint discussions with the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

03:48So, we have discussed certain areas that are quite critically dependent on the influx of migrant workers.

03:56So, for example, transportation sector.

03:59We now have, I think, over 50,000, probably up to 60,000 migrant workers from Belarus,

04:11and most of them work in the transportation sector.

04:15So, there, I think that it could be great to have long-distance English-speaking Filipino drivers.

04:23I think that would be one area.

04:25Another area, you are famous for your sailors, for your maritime industry-related skills.

04:33So, therefore, shipyard workers, sailors would be one more area which is important.

04:38And national security-wise, it's a very sensitive area.

04:41We are expanding our defense industry.

04:43We are expanding our shipyards.

04:45Civil industry is also participating in the expansion of defense industry.

04:50So, therefore, having skilled citizens of Philippines that would be willing to work here,

04:59that would also be one area that I would be, as defense minister, looking forward to.

05:05And, in general, of course, as aging society, we have this need of social care, medical care workers.

05:13So, from nurse assistants to nurses to other professions that are related to that,

05:19that also would be something to very seriously discuss, because the need is there.

05:26And then other details, of course, should be discussed by my colleagues,

05:31as currently, for example, joint communique between Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania

05:38and the Department of Migrant Workers of Philippines is currently being discussed and prepared,

05:44and hopefully it will be finalized soon and hopefully document can be signed also as soon as possible.

05:52And our Migration Department under the Ministry of Interior is now in contact with your Migrant Workers Department

06:00and also working on how to move forward.

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