The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be traveling to Saudi Arabia next month for the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit.
“His Excellency, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will also be visiting the Kingdom next month. This visit will further strengthen the strong, friendly, and vibrant relations that happily exist between our two countries,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Antonio Morales said, during the celebration of the 93rd national day of Saudi.
Mr. Marcos will attend the ASEAN-GCC Summit, the first of its kind after an ASEAN-GCC ministerial meeting was convened in 2009 in Bahrain. Morales did not disclose details of Mr. Marcos’ schedule in Saudi Arabia.
But if ever the President meets for a bilateral talk with King Salman or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his visit will be the second high-level visit taken by both sides since Mr. Marcos assumed office.
In September 2022, Saudi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud arrived in the Philippines to meet Mr. Marcos and DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo to boost bilateral ties between Manila and Riyadh.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Manalo said they discussed “the active engagement” between the Philippines as well as “opportunities to further economic cooperation in support of our development goals.”
