10 December 2014 - The Philippines and Luxembourg successfully held the first round of negotiations that aim to conclude a Social Security Agreement from December 01 to 03 in Luxembourg.

The Philippine delegation was headed by Social Security System (SSS) Senior Vice President (SVP) Judy Frances A. See. Accompanying her was SSS SVP Atty. Voltaire P. Agas and Third Secretary and Vice Consul Ralph Abarquez from the Philippine Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg delegation was headed by Mr. Claude Ewen, Head of the International Legal Department of the Ministry of Social Security and General Inspectorate for Social Security of Luxembourg. Accompanying him was Ms. Mady Kries, Chargée of International Affairs, Ms. Michèle Bastian, Assistant in International Affairs, and Ms. Christiane Raus, all of the International Legal Department.

The two sides were able to brief each other on the social protection frameworks of their respective countries and were also able to make substantial progress in the negotiation of an agreement on social security that would benefit citizens of the Philippines and Luxembourg, who are members of and have made contributions to the social security systems of both countries.

A second meeting will be held in the Philippines in order to fully thresh out the administrative arrangements of the social security agreement.

The meeting concluded with the signing of the agreed minutes and the initialing of the final draft of the Agreement on Social Security between the Republic of the Philippines and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. END