Indonesia and Portugal Move Closer to Finalizing Migrant Worker Placement Agreement

Jakarta: Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Minister Mukhtarudin met with Indonesian Ambassador to Portugal Susi Marleny Bachsin on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, to discuss efforts to expedite the finalization of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Portugal.
 
During the meeting, Susi expressed her appreciation for the minister’s support in expanding opportunities for safe, legal, and mutually beneficial migrant worker cooperation between Indonesia and Portugal.
 
Susi said the MoU between the P2MI Ministry and Portugal’s migration authority, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), had entered its final stage. She added that Portugal had relayed its hope that the agreement would be signed in October 2026 during recent talks with AIMA President Pedro Portugal Gaspar.
 
As part of efforts to accelerate the signing, the Portuguese government proposed a visit by a P2MI Ministry delegation to Lisbon in September 2026.
 
The agenda would include meetings with AIMA representatives, a migrant worker placement cooperation forum, business matching sessions between Portuguese businesses and official Indonesian placement agencies, as well as discussions on more concrete cooperation mechanisms.
 
Responding to the proposal, Minister Mukhtarudin voiced his support for the planned visit, stating that the Indonesian government welcomed the invitation and would discuss the details internally in the near future.
 
He added that the Indonesian government was prepared for the MoU signing to take place in Indonesia in October 2026, citing the country’s established training facilities, vocational education institutions, and Indonesian migrant worker placement agencies (P3MI) as evidence of its readiness.
 
“We welcome the Portuguese delegation to inspect our preparations firsthand,” he said.

“We have high-quality placement agencies capable of supporting business-to-business (B2B), private-to-private (P2P), and government-to-government (G2G) placement schemes,” he added.
 
Mukhtarudin also noted that the MoU reflects the government’s commitment to expanding the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers.
 
“For the President, the protection of migrant workers is paramount. They must receive fair wages, decent housing, quality health coverage, and adequate social protection,” he said.
 
Both nations are optimistic that the MoU will pave the way for broader, professional, and secure placement opportunities, while strengthening bilateral relations between Indonesia and Portugal in the labor sector.
 
(Jonathan Sianto)