Duterte accepts credentials of 8 new envoys
President Rodrigo Duterte MALACAÑANG PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the credentials of eight new resident ambassadors on Wednesday.
Duterte welcomed the resident ambassadors and plenipotentiary-designate to the Philippines at Malacañang Palace.
The eight envoys who presented their credentials are Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Hisham Sultan Al Zafir Al Qahtani, Kingdom of Belgium’s Michel Parys, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Laure Beaufils, United Arab Emirates’ Mohamed Obaid Salem Alqataam Alzaabi, Italian Republic’s Marco Clemente, Kingdom of Sweden’s Annika Thunborg, State of Israel’s Ilan Fluss, and Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s Leopoldo Lazatin.
When receiving Qahtani’s credentials, Duterte noted that Saudi Arabia and the Philippines’ “bilateral relations remained strong and resilient” over the past 50 years.
Talking to Parys, the chief executive hoped to “deepen bilateral ties” with Belgium “for the mutual benefit” of the two nations.
Duterte welcomed the United Kingdom’s delisting of the Philippines on its red list travel ban since “this would facilitate greater mobility” as the countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, he told Beaufils.
Addressing Alzaabi, the president thanked the United Arab Emirates for “extending timely assistance to distressed Filipinos” in the foreign land.
Duterte told Clemente that the country “seeks Italy’s support for the resumption or the discussion of the Philippines’ European Union Free Trade Agreement” for economic relations and post-pandemic recovery.
Talking to Thunborg, the president thanked Sweden “for the technical assistance grant for the improvement of the Edsa Busway.”
Moreover, Duterte told Fluss that the Philippines looks “forward to even deeper, broader engagement in Israel in the years ahead particularly in defense, labor, and tourism.”
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s “sustained humanitarian work in the Philippines to the pandemic is laudable,” Duterte told Lazatin while expressing appreciation.
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