KUWAIT CITY, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait and the Philippines on Friday signed an agreement on employing household helpers in the Gulf state, the Kuwait News Agency said.

The Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the visiting Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano signed the agreement, KUNA said.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled and his counterpart held talks on promoting bilateral cooperation in all fields, reiterating historical ties between Kuwait and the Philippines and expressing readiness to overcome the "exceptional circumstances" of bilateral relations over the past weeks.

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry announced April 25 that it had notified the Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa to leave Kuwait, saying its action against the top Filipino envoy was in retaliation for undiplomatic acts by Philippine embassy staff who encouraged Filipino domestic workers to flee employers' households.

Kuwait has protested over the "rescue" of Philippine citizens working as domestic helpers, and summoned the Philippine ambassador for an explanation.

The Philippines is one of the primary sources of domestic workers abroad, including the Middle East such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said there are about 250,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait, mostly as domestic helpers.