Saudi-UK partners to visit Mindanao on business

A Saudi Arabia-United Kingdom business partnership will visit the Philippines next October in search of opportunities in agriculture and trade in Mindanao. Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor said the delegation will explore with the Trade and Agriculture departments the prospects of food production in southern Philippines. "The [Philippine] government will be providing them the needed land," Villamor said in an article on Saudi-based news site Arab News. According to the article, Habib Faris, board member of the Fina Investment Asia Ltd., asked Villamor on Monday how the Philippine Embassy could help him and his Saudi partner from Abunayyan Commerce and Trading Co. on the project. Villamor said he told Faris that the embassy could facilitate travel visas for the delegates and hook them up with Philippine officials and private-sector representatives. "The Saudi and UK-based partners are aware of the ongoing negotiations between the Saudi government and the Philippines for food production on Mindanao island, where hundreds of thousands of hectares will be utilized for food sufficiency in the Kingdom," Villamor added. Last year, a Saudi delegation traveled to the Philippines after the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued a royal decree on the food security program in Mindanao. The delegation met with the agriculture secretary and Filipino businessmen. Villamor believes that Saudi-UK partnership venture “...will be good, not only for Saudi Arabia because of increased availability of food but also for the Philippines because of job opportunities." The Saudi-UK partnership will also explore the possibilities in mining, leather production, and remittance services, Villamor said. — LBG/VS, GMANews.TV