MANILA— Bahrain Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has sought to further enhance the Philippine-Bahrain ties as he hailed the growing engagement between the two nations’ governments.
The Bahraini official said this during the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte’s special envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Amable Aguiluz last August 28 in Bahrain.
State-run Bahrain News Agency said the prime minister “expressed satisfaction with the progress witnessed by the Bahraini-Philippines cooperation in various fields, thus embodying the two countries’ distinguished deep-rooted relations and mutual understanding on a wide range of regional and global issues.”
The Bahrain leader also lauded the “contributions of the Filipino expatriate community” to the kingdom’s development, which counts to around 60,000 as of 2018.
The Bahrain government has facilitated the “regularization” of undocumented Filipino workers in the Arab state last year.
During the meeting with Aguiliz, the prime minister also conveyed his greetings to President Duterte and his “wishes of further progress and prosperity to the Philippines and its people”.
Last July, Bahrain was among the states that voted against an Iceland-initiated resolution at the United Nations which sought for a comprehensive written report on the human rights situation in the Philippines.
In his letter to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola dated July 15, the prime minister underscored the Gulf state’s support to the Philippines “as a valued partner in achieving shared political and economic objectives.” -PNA
