Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Gordon and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the Philippines met to discuss the strengthening of their partnership for the benefit of Marawi City's most vulnerable families.
"I am proud and honored to sit with Chairman Gordon to find mechanisms to deliver assistance at the quickest time," His Excellency Hisham Sultan Abdullah Alqahtani said during the meeting on Aug. 18.
Ambassador Alqahtani also referred to Gordon as a "great man" who is "an expert in disaster management and well respected by the international community."
The KSA and PRC have built a consistent partnership over the past years particularly in providing Marawi siege victims with their most basic needs.
It can be traced back to December 2020 that KSA, through King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, donated a total of P23.8 million to PRC to help expand its humanitarian interventions to the armed conflict victims.
PRC said that this amount enabled them to provide food baskets to 1,000 families in the city.
During the meeting, Gordon expressed his gratitude for the KSA and stated that they share the same goal of alleviating human suffering and liting the dignity of the poorest people.
Other war-affected areas in Mindanao will also benefit from the partnership, PRC stated.
Last May 25 to 26, PRC and delegates from the Saudi Red Crescent Authority also met to establish a collaboration in the health sector.
The Philippines and KSA's stronger diplomatic bond began on 2004 when Gordon helped a surgeon from KSA carry out a successful operation on Filipino conjoined twins which became the first medicinal feat of the kingdom, PRC said.