PH, Saudi sign over $4.26B investment deals

The Philippine business delegation signed investment agreements worth more than $4.26 billion with Saudi Arabia's business leaders at the sidelines of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s participation at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council (ASEAN-GCC) Summit.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Friday said that this came after Marcos had a roundtable discussion with Arab business leaders in Riyadh on Thursday.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Saudi’s Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company and Samsung Engineering NEC Co. Ltd. signed a deal with Philippines’ EEI Corp. for construction export services worth $120 million.

The DTI also reported that Saudi’s Al-Jeer Human Resources Company-ARCO inked an agreement with the Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for human resource services worth $3.7 billion.

Meanwhile, Saudi’s Maharah Human Resources Company also signed an investment agreement worth $191 million each to Philippines’ Staffhouse International Resources Corporation and E-GMP International Corporation for human resource services.

Marcos had said the agreements are seen to benefit more than 15,000 Filipinos in training and employment opportunities across a wide range of professions in the construction industry.

The President also expressed hope that Saudi Arabia would make the Philippines its gateway to the ASEAN and the economies of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

"So, as we take part in the ASEAN-GCC Summit, currently being hosted by the Kingdom, we continue to reaffirm our readiness for deeper economic partnerships not just within the Southeast Asian region but as well as with our extended neighbors here in the Gulf," Marcos said.

"We hope that the Philippines will be your chosen gateway to the ASEAN and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economies, which was earlier spoken about. And on that note, I hope that the Saudi business leaders present here today will further make it happen in the Philippines," he added. —VAL, GMA Integrated News