Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and newly appointed Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman is slated to visit Manila next month, a senior Foreign Affairs official said.
If the visit pushes through, the 37-year-old Saudi Crown Prince would be the first head of government to visit the Philippines since President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. took office last June.
DFA Assistant Secretary for Middle East Affairs Alfonso Ver said this was discussed during the visit recently by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud during his courtesy call on President Marcos in Malacañang.
Prince Mohammed will attend the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15 and 16. The Saudi Prime Minister is targeting to have a five-nation swing in Asia, which includes the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei and Pakistan.
The date of the visit is not yet known, but the DFA and Malacañang will prepare for the “deliverables” of the visit.
“We want to rush everything. We want to do everything. Part of the meeting between the President and the Saudi foreign minister was to create the initial plans for the eventual visit by the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman here,” Ver said in a news conference on Friday.
At least 17 memoranda of understanding are now being negotiated between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia on a wide range of topics, such as security and defense, trade and investments, culture cooperation and labor reforms.
The Saudi foreign minister has assured President Marcos that labor reforms are now “in place” to protect the rights of foreign workers, including the 800,000-strong Filipino community, in the Kingdom, Ver quoted Prince Faisal as saying. Recently, the Department of Migrant Workers has lifted the ban on the deployment of Filipino construction workers to Saudi Arabia.
Prince Faisal said the Saudi Crown Prince’s vision is that by year 2030, it would have the highest GDP growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, and generate at least 50 percent of its GDP through non-oil revenue, specifically on tourism and entertainment targeting 100 million annual tourist arrivals.
“Saudi Arabia is opening up to tourism. Before, Saudi tourism is only for hajj. This will create more jobs not just for Saudis but expatriates. His Highness recognized our competencies in tourism and entertainment industries,” Ver said.
Prince Faisal also said Saudi has the capability to increase the production of urea fertilizers—a byproduct of petroleum products.
Marcos, who is also the country’s agriculture secretary, gave the “marching orders” to DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo to forge agreements that would allow Saudi to export urea fertilizers to the Philippines.