President Marcos has arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - Gulf Cooperation Council (ASEAN-GCC) Summit.

The plane carrying Marcos and the Philippine delegation landed at 12:56 p.m. (Riyadh time) at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
Prior to participating in the summit, where major geopolitical developments, security, economic progress, and socio-cultural collaboration are high on the agenda, the President is scheduled to attend a roundtable meeting with Saudi business leaders upon his arrival there.
During his pre-departure speech, Marcos said that the summit is an important platform for the Philippines to highlight the need for cooperation in energy and food security, logistics, supply chains, digital transformation, the free flow of goods, people, and services, as well as the enhancement and protection of the rights, particularly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
He also intends to emphasize during the Summit the country’s advocacy for a rules-based international order to maintain peace and security, stability in both regions.
Marcos will also meet with the Filipino community in Riyadh as part of his visit.
Foreign affairs officials said there are also planned bilateral meetings with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia and the Philippines established diplomatic relations on Oct. 24, 1969.
The Philippines opened a mission in Jeddah in December 1973, while the Saudi government opened an embassy in Manila a year after.
The kingdom is the third largest source of OFW remittances although they have been declining since 2016. In 2020, the remittances amounted to appropriately $1.8 billion, a 14-percent decline compared to $2.1 billion in 2019.
Majority of remittances were from land-based OFWs. There are approximately 2.2 million Filipinos working in vital occupations in the Gulf countries.
READ MORE: SEAN-Gulf States summit in Riyadh a 'unique opportunity' for PH — Marcos