Philippine President Rodrigo R Duterte (pictured), is likely to visit Qatar in the first half of next year, which is set to further bolster relations between the two countries, Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos has said.
Ambassador Santos said the Embassy is preparing for the visit of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. which will lay the groundwork for the President’s visit likely to occur between first to second quarter next year.
“There are plans for the President to visit Qatar. In fact, we received instructions last month to prepare for the visit of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay this month to lay the groundwork for the visit of the President either in the first or second quarter of next year,” said the envoy.
He was speaking at Monday night’s episode of UFOQ Teleradyo, an online public service programme recently launched by the United Filipino Organisations in Qatar in cooperation with the Alliance of Filipino Journalists in Qatar.
The last Philippine president who visited Qatar was then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2008 while the Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani visited the Philippines in April 2012.
“It has been four years since that last high level visit between our two countries. It’s time for our President to visit Qatar,” he said, adding it is the “best time” for newly elected President to come to Qatar.
“First, he won here. Second our economy has the highest growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region at 7.1 percent and our President gives importance to Filipino communities overseas. As you know, the first engagement of our President in his international trips is to with the Filipino community; that’s how important the Filipino community for him,” he explained.
Qatar and Philippines negotiating several key agreements: Envoy
Ambassador Santos underscored that “Qatar is an economic powerhouse, an ideal destination for Presidential visit.” Asked about the impact of the visit, the Ambassador said: “The president’s visit here will definitely reinvigorate bilateral relations. In fact, our two governments are already negotiating several key agreements in areas such as education, culture, investment, health and tourism.
“The Middle East is very important for the Philippines and we look to the Middle East as a new frontier in foreign policy. At the same time, the GCC countries including Qatar look East for opportunities, including the Philippines. The visit of the president will create opportunities for the mutual benefit of our two countries."
Meanwhile, the ambassador revealed plans to relocate the embassy to a bigger place to accommodate the growing population of Filipinos here.
“We have plans to transfer to a bigger area with one or two buildings to house all the agencies represented in the Philippine Embassy, which is the ideal set-up,” he said, explaining the plan for a one-stop shop where all embassy services as well as those of Philippine Overseas Labour Office and Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) will be available.
The embassy has already found a land and negotiations are going on with the owner to build two buildings with sufficient parking space near a place where our Filipinos can eat and wait while waiting for the release of their documents, he said.
With the planned transfer to a bigger building and the swelling population of overseas Filipinos here, the embassy has also asked for additional staff which will hopefully be provided next year, he added.
Hosted by UFOQ Chairman Ressie S Fos and GMA 7 correspondent Manny Flores, the interview with the ambassador, which was already viewed more than 5,000 times, was the third episode of the public service programme for Overseas Filipinos in Qatar.
