Philippines offers farm products to Kingdom
Philippines offers farm products to Kingdom
Arab News
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=122027&d=29&m=4&y=2009
JEDDAH: The Philippines has volunteered to become a major source of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia.
“Our country is geared up to receive the Saudi delegation headed by Agricultural Minister Fahd Balghunaim who will visit our country,” said Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo in Manila speaking at a reception organized by the Kingdom’s Philippine Ambassador Muhammad Amin. “We will offer all cooperation and investment facilities to Saudi investors so that the Philippines would become a major source of agriculture imports to the Kingdom.”
The reception and dinner were attended by ambassadors of a number of countries including Arab and Muslim countries apart from senior government officials.
“The mutual relations between the Kingdom and Philippines have steadily been growing in all spheres,” Romulo said.
The foreign secretary viewed the two visits by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Kingdom as a mark of deep mutual relations between the two countries.
The foreign secretary also commended the cooperation of the Saudi Embassy in simplifying the travel procedures of the overseas workers whose number he estimated at more than a million in the Kingdom. On behalf of the Filipino people and officials, the secretary thanked the Saudi government for the protection and care offered by it to the Filipino workers.
Romulo noted that his country imported most of its petroleum products from the Kingdom while the country hoped that the Kingdom would continue to make investments in the petroleum sector in Philippines. The secretary also referred to the welcome accorded by the people and government of his country to the efforts undertaken by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures and religions.
“Philippines responded favorably to King Abdullah’s efforts to hold interfaith dialogues aimed at peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures and religions. President Arroyo attended the UN meeting on interfaith conference held in New York while Jose de Venecia, former speaker of the Philippines Parliament and chairman of the National Security Council, attended the Madrid conference. On the other hand, leading Muslim figures in the Philippines attended the earlier Makkah conference,” the minister noted.
He also reiterated the excellent relations between his country and the member countries of Organization of Islamic Conference. “We hope to meet with them in Syria in May,” the secretary said.
