An official says Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lifted a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait after talks eased a dispute over the plight of Filipina housemaids in the oil-rich Arab nation.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte ordered Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to lift the ban late Wednesday. Kuwait expelled the Filipino ambassador and recalled its envoy to Manila at the height of the feud last month.

Duterte banned the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait after the body of a Filipina housemaid was discovered in a freezer in a Kuwaiti home in February in what he said was the latest in a growing number of deaths and abuse of Filipina maids in the wealthy nation.