Saadoun bin Khalid Al Khalidi, member of the Board of Directors of Asharqia Chamber, stressed the strong trade and economic relations with the Republic of the Philippines.
He talked about the growth of bilateral relations between the two countries during the meeting of the Philippine trade delegation, which is headed by the Deputy Consul at the Embassy of the Philippines in Riyadh, Alexander Joseph Aestomo, that was organized by the Chamber on Monday 11 February 2019, at its headquarter.
The meeting was attended by Secretary General of the Chamber Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al-Wabel, as well as a remarkable number of the business sector and interested parites.
Al-Khalidi said that the Saudi-Philippine trade is expected to grow further in the coming years in view of developments in the Kingdom in the investment procedures in view of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which signals a new era of economic development in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Khalidi pointed out that according to official statistics, bilateral trade between the two countries rose to 8.6 billion riyals in 2017, compared to 6.1 billion riyals in the previous year.
Saudi imports from the Philippines was about 1.2 billion riyals, while Saudi exports to the Philippines were amounted to 5.7 billion Saudi riyals.
Al-Khalidi urged the business sector in the Philippines to seek investment opportunities in the Kingdom in cooperation and partnership with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia to establish factories and specialized manufacturing bases.
He pointed out that relations between the two countries have exceeded trade and economic relations, in addition, around half a million Filipinos live and work in the Kingdom and have earned a good reputation for their professional skills and positive treatment in social life.
For his part, Alexander Joseph Aestomo said that bilateral relations between the Kingdom and the Philippines are witnessing remarkable development in the social and economic aspects.
He noted that the Philippines exports skilled labor has known this feature.
He emphasized the fame of food products exported by the Philippines to the countries of the world.
He said that the Kingdom and the Philippines recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He pointed out that the trade delegation provided a range of services and products such as services of the logistics sector, cosmetics, fashion, and fresh fruits such as bananas, vegetables, coconut water, fish, sweets, various kinds of herbal materials.
