Marcos to attend ASEAN-GCC Summit in Saudi Arabia

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is set to fly to Saudi Arabia this week to participate in the 2023 ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit.

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday said Marcos would be in Riyadh from October 19 to 20.

The President will also meet with the Filipino community as well as business leaders in Riyadh.

"It will be a short affair. It’s just a one day meeting, but it will be preceded by a Filipino community meeting, hopefully in the morning of the same day, October 20," DFA Office for ASEAN Affairs Daniel Espiritu said at a Palace press briefing.

"So, the President will fly in on October 19, and then he will be leaving the venue right after the dinner on October 20 – right after the Summit," he added.

Aside from a roundtable meeting with Arab business leaders, Marcos will also have a bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain officials.

"Suffice it to say that the probable bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia could focus on the 54 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, and that one with Bahrain could also focus on the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries," Espiritu said.

The DFA official said Marcos' participation in the Summit is important because "GCC is composed of highly-developed Arab economies, and at the same time, they are petrochemical powerhouses, and as well as hub and logistics economies."

"Now, they can help ASEAN in addressing energy and food security – energy security because they’re petrochemical powerhouses – but also food security because some of the countries there, especially Qatar, are among the largest producers of fertilizers and they can fill up the slack or the deficit on the ASEAN side," Espiritu said. —AOL/KBK, GMA Integrated News