Annalena Baerbock, from Abroad, and Hubertus Heil, from Labour, want to attract nurses and male nurses to compensate for the lack of professionals in Germany. Cooperation on climate and peace also on the meeting agenda. The German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and Labor Minister, Hubertus Heil, arrived in Brazil this Monday (05/06), as part of an official initiative aimed at bringing Brazilian professionals from the health area to work in their country.
With a total duration of six days, the trip through Latin America to recruit qualified labor will continue through Colombia and Panama. “Brazilian nurses and Colombian electricians are already welcomed with open arms in Germany. We want to expand this partnership”, declared Baerbock.
On her first day in Brasília, she met with the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. In a joint declaration, the heads of portfolios emphasized the will of their countries to advance side by side in climate policy.
Better wages and conditions: a common goal
According to Germany’s Federal Employment Agency, there is “an obvious shortage of care professionals” in the country, with three vacancies for every nurse looking for a job. And the Patient Protection Foundation warns that in the coming years 500,000 employees of clinics and outpatient hospitals will retire.
On the other hand, Brazil has 2.5 million trained caregivers, and in 2021 the unemployment rate in the sector was 10%, records the Federal Nursing Council (Cofen).
Even so – and despite Brazil being Germany’s main trading partner in Latin America – Heil stated that less than 200 Brazilian nurses are currently working in his country. The Federal Employment Agency estimates that it will be possible to hire up to 700 professionals per year.
On a visit to the nursing course at the Catholic University of Brasilia, Heil spoke in favor of increasing immigration, emphasizing that in both countries it is necessary to improve working and salary conditions for the class.
The academic pro-rector of the university, Adriana Pelizzari, was open to student exchanges and cooperation in research – in which the University of Göttingen is interested, according to the German minister.
Together with the Brazilian Minister of Labor and Employment, Luiz Marinho, Heil signed a declaration of intent for “fair immigration”, with the aim of creating simpler structures to encourage the exchange of labor.
United on climate, Russia’s war mismatch
Before starting his tour of Latin America, Baerbock defined the region as “Europe’s natural partner”, which “not even an ocean can separate”: “We are very united: we live in democracies, we are culturally close and we fight for an international system based on in rules and human rights.”
“This applies as much to Colombia and Panama as it does to Brazil, our strategic partner that will occupy the next presidency of the G20”, he added, stressing the intention of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to contribute to the solution of the most urgent global challenges, because “without Latin America it will not be possible to alleviate the climate crisis”.
As for deforestation in the Amazon by fires and logging: “It affects us all: if the trees keep falling, the whole ecosystem will collapse. Therefore, we share President Lula’s ambition to offer perspectives to those who live close to the jungle, not against the jungle, but with it.”
The head of German diplomacy added: “We are united in our firm conviction that there can only be prosperity if freedom and peace prevail. Although occasionally, as in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, we have different perspectives.” For this reason, it is “so important that countries like Brazil also raise their voice for the imposition of international law”, reinforced Baerbock.
av/bl (EFE, DPA)
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