Groundwork for next year’s round of Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) sessions is taking shape, with the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and Emirati labor officials sketching out the technical meetings and thematic discussions the Philippines will host as the forum’s incoming chair.
The planning gained momentum on the margins of the 114th International Labour Conference, which the International Labour Organization convened in Geneva from June 1 to 12. There, DMW Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac sat down with Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar, the UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, at the Emirates’ Permanent Mission to map the direction of the partnership.
Manila holds the ADD chairmanship for the 2026–2028 cycle, a role it formally assumed after the forum’s 8th ministerial gathering earlier this year. The UAE, where the Dialogue was established, continues to anchor the process as its permanent secretariat. The arrangement places the two governments at the center of a consultative body that links Asian countries sending workers abroad with the Gulf states that employ them, with the aim of building common standards around the treatment of temporary migrant labor.
Much of the detailed preparation fell to officials below the ministerial level. Shaima Yousef Al Awadhi, an undersecretary representing the UAE secretariat, worked through the agenda with a DMW delegation headed by Undersecretary Jainal Rasul, Jr. Their discussions covered the thematic priorities and the technical-level meetings that Manila intends to stage in 2027.
Those sessions are designed as the foundation for the higher-stakes engagements that will follow — the Senior Officials Meeting and the Ministerial Consultation expected in 2028, when member states are due to consolidate their thematic work into a declaration guiding policy across the bloc.
The Gulf remains the heart of the matter for the Philippines, where roughly 60 to 70 percent of overseas Filipino workers are based — a concentration Cacdac has repeatedly cited in framing why the ADD chairmanship carries weight for Manila.
