Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‘happy’ to welcome Filipinos, says diplomat

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is “happy” to welcome Filipinos in the middle eastern country, said Charge d’Affaires a.i Abdullah Saad Alshahri on Monday.

The diplomat noted that the Saudi Arabian government has been issuing thousands of visas to Filipinos daily.

“We are happy to have any Filipinos, I can tell you we are issuing everyday  more than a thousand visas for Filipinos going to Saudi Arabia, either for Umrah, either to work there, either to participate in the development of Saudi Arabia, we have a lot of projects,” said Alshahri.

“Either for Umra, or to work, or for tourism, or to visit their families, they are most welcome, we are happy to issue,” he added.

Alshahri made the statement on the sidelines of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s turnover of dates (edible sweet fruit from date palm trees) to the Philippine government to honor the relationship between two countries.

“The Saudi dates, it’s very important and one of the special food products in Saudi Arabia. But we are here not to sell it, but to present it as a gift. That I would say a message of love between two countries,” the diplomat said.

The dates were received by National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Secretary Sabuddin Abdurahim.

The Philippines is among the 105 countries benefitting from the projects of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which was established to extend the Saudi Arabian government’s relief efforts worldwide.

“King Salman has committed for now more than 16 projects in the Philippines - health sector, and food security, and agriculture security,” he said. — BAP, GMA Integrated News