Phl, Saudi ink $4.26-B investment agreements

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Malacañang on Friday said that business delegations from the Philippines and Saudi business leaders inked investment agreements worth $4.26 billion.

In a statement, Marcos was said to be present at the agreements' signing earlier this week, which took place on the fringes of a conference of Gulf and Southeast Asian countries in Saudi Arabia.

Malacañang said that EEI Corp. of the Philippines and Samsung Engineering of Saudi Arabia have reached a deal for the export of construction services valued at $120 million.

Al-Jeer Human Resources Company (ARCO) also inked a $3.7 billion human resource services contract with the Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Palace added.

A $191 million agreement for human resource services was also inked by Maharah Human Resources Co. of Saudi Arabia, Staffhouse International Resources of the Philippines, and E-GMP International Corp. of the Philippines.

President Marcos acknowledged the valuable contributions of the companies that took part in the effort to strengthen the bilateral ties between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, which served as home to over one million Filipino migrant workers.

"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," President Marcos said.

President Marcos also assured the business community that the Philippines will remain steadfast in its commitment to continuously support current and prospective Saudi investors as he emphasized that the Philippine government has amended existing laws to further open its economy to foreign investments.