Saudi King to send business mission to RP

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is sending a high-level business mission to the Philippines in April to look for investment opportunities in the country’s agriculture sector.

A Palace statement quoting Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Saudi Arabia manifested its intention to expand its investments in the Philippines during a brief interview at the Filipino community reception held at the Gulf International Hotel convention center in Manama, Bahrain Tuesday night.

Yap, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque and Trade Secretary Peter Favila accompanied President Arroyo in her two-day working visit to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

He said the business mission will be headed by Saudi Arabia’s ministers of commerce and agriculture.

Mrs. Arroyo and her official party arrived Monday in Riyadh from Milan, Italy after attending the 2009 World Economic Forum (WFF) in Davos, Switzerland to check the working and living conditions of more than a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Yap said the Saudi monarch has formed an inter-agency committee composed of the ministries of foreign affairs, agriculture, commerce and industry to come up with an investment program for agriculture in foreign countries, especially in the Philippines.

Yap explained that these investments in agricultural projects in foreign countries are aimed to meet Saudi Arabia’s increasing demand for fruits, vegetables and livestock.

He said Saudi officials have expressed their strong intention to invest in the Philippines because the President enjoys a “high level of credibility and rapport” with leaders of the Gulf states.

The Saudi government has already forged an investment agreement with the Department of Trade and Industry on the establishment of a five-star hotel, Raffles and Fairmont in Makati City.