Duterte to visit Israel on Sept. 2 —envoy

President Rodrigo Duterte will be in Israel for a three-day official visit starting September 2, Israel's top envoy to Manila said Friday.

"It is going to be the first visit of its kind of a sitting President of the Philippines," Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau told reporters in an interview.

Duterte, Matityau said, will meet Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin during the visit, which is aimed at bolstering political, security, people-to-people, and economic ties between the two countries.

"We are now working on the list of agreements in different areas. Some of them in defense, in the civilian sector," he said.

Matityau said Duterte is expected to bring along a large business delegation, noting that a huge number of contracts will be signed in areas of technology transfer.

Israeli companies, he added, are also eyeing joint ventures with Filipino counterparts, particularly in the manufactiring sector.

"I'm sure it will pave the road to a much more positive energy in our relations," Matityau said.

Among the highlights of Duterte's Israel trip is a meeting with the Filipino community and a tour of the Holy Land and "must-see places and monuments."

There are around 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, working mostly as caregivers

Matityau said he hopes Duterte's visit will initiate talks on the opening of a direct flight between Manila and Tel Aviv to increase tourism exchange.

In 2017, some 23,500 Filipinos traveled to Israel, an increase of 61 percent from 14,600 in 2016.

A few months after winning the presidency, Duterte made a controversial remark when he said he would be happy to slaughter 3 million drug addicts like what Nazi leader Adolf Hitler did to around 6 million Jews during the World War II.

Duterte later apologized to the Jewish community, saying he never meant to derogate the memory of Jews slaughtered by Nazi Germany.

Matityau said the remarks quoting Duterte were "taken out of context" and should not affect Philippines-Israel ties.

"It was clear to us it was not meant to be offensive to the Jewish people," he said. —KBK, GMA News