Philippines, Saudi Arabia ink $4.2B worth of business deals

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Saudi Arabia signed investment agreements worth $4.2 billion, Malacañang said on Friday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., still in Saudi Arabia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council between business leaders of the two countries worth $120 million.

The deal, according to a Palace statement, is between Saudi Arabia’s Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Co. with Samsung Engineering NEC Co. and the Philippines’ EEI Corp and involves construction export services.

“With an estimated value of over $120 million, the agreements that will be signed today are set to benefit more than 15,000 Filipinos in training and employment opportunities across a wide range of professions in the construction industry,” Marcos said during his roundtable discussion with business leaders.

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In addition to the $120 million reported by the President, the Department of Trade and Industry also said that a human resource services agreement worth $3.7 billion was signed between Al-Jeer Human Resources Company-Arco and the Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to a Palace statement.

Malacañang also said that two human resource services agreements (worth $191 million each) were signed with the Philippines’ Staffhouse International Resources Corp and E-GMP International Corp.

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The Palace’s tally of investment agreements so far amounts to $4.2 billion.

“To our current and future business partners, I hope that this meeting has served as an excellent platform for building greater and closer partnerships between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Marcos said.