PH, Saudi companies ink $4.26-B investment deals

BUSINESS AGREEMENTS President Marcos shakes hands with one of Saudi Arabia’s business leaders after members of a Filipino business delegation on Thursday signed several agreements worth more than $4.26 billion with their Saudi partners, a day before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh. —PPA POOL PHOTO

RIYADH—The two-day visit by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to this oil-rich kingdom drew more than $4.26-billion worth of investment agreements between Saudi Arabian and Filipino companies, the bulk of which was composed of employment deals, Malacañang said on Friday.

The biggest, worth $3.7 billion, was between Saudi’s Al-Jeer Human Resources Co.-ARCO and the Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for “human resource services,” according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

Al-Jeer is a job recruitment company licensed by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development. It was established in November 2013 to provide skilled and trained laborers in all specialties for all economic entities in the public and private sectors.

READ: Bongbong Marcos arrives in Saudi Arabia for first Asean-GCC Summit

Saudi’s Al-Rushaid Petroleum Investment Co. and Samsung Engineering NEC Co. Ltd. signed a $120-million deal with one of the top Filipino engineering companies, EEI Corp., for construction export services.

The Saudi company is part of the Al-Rushaid Group which is principally engaged in manufacturing, construction, engineering, trading, commercial real estate and technology development.

Wide range of jobs

In a speech before the signing of the deals on Thursday, the President cited the EEI agreement, saying it would benefit more than 15,000 Filipinos with training and employment “across a wide range of professions in the construction industry.”

A $191-million agreement for human resource services was sealed between Saudi’s Maharah Human Resources Co. and two Filipino companies—Staffhouse International Resources Corp. and E-GMP International Corp.

Maharah provides human resource services to customers in Saudi Arabia. The company offers jobs in home services, medical, industrial, retail and hospitality sectors.

Both Staffhouse and E-GMP are job recruitment companies based in Metro Manila.

The deals were signed by members of the Philippine business delegation that traveled with the President to Saudi Arabia where he was to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council (Asean-GCC) Summit on Friday.

In his speech, Mr. Marcos expressed optimism that the latest investment pledges “further strengthen the very strong and very long-standing people-to-people relationship” between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

But the two countries’ relations should not only hinge on the labor market through job placements, Mr. Marcos said.

“We should also explore the new businesses that have come up since the end of the pandemic economy and that is the area where I think that the GCC and Asean will find as a fertile ground for future investment, and also for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of the Philippines to further strengthen the ties,” he said.

Beyond trade

The renewed partnership, Mr. Marcos said, not only covered trade but also other areas, such as telecommunication, health care, energy and agriculture.

Saudi state news agency SPA reported the meeting of the Saudi and Philippine delegations, noting discussions on energy, industry, Islamic financial services and food security, as well as an agreement on human resources aimed at providing skilled labor to Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf state is a major destination for overseas Filipino workers, with more than a million employed in construction or as domestic helpers or nurses.

In his speech, Mr. Marcos also cited his administration’s Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which Malacañang said was designed to “drive long-term economic development” through increased investments in “high-impact” sectors.

The President said that he was also looking at learning from Saudi Arabia’s extensive experience in managing a similar sovereign wealth fund.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno also made his own pitch for investments to the MIF, saying that the Marcos administration wanted to “attract direct equity investment from local and global funds, carry out cofinancing and knowledge-sharing with other sovereign wealth funds.”

These investments are aimed at hastening the implementation of the administration’s 197 flagship infrastructure projects worth around $153 billion, Diokno said.

He said these projects include water resources, $14.6 billion; digital connectivity, $1.7 billion; agriculture, $11.2 billion; physical connectivity, $122.5 billion; health, $2.3 billion; power and energy, $180 million; and other infrastructures, $750 million.

Diokno pointed to the MIF as the “appropriate and realistic” fund source, which has about $8.8 billion in authorized capital stock.

The President’s visit to Riyadh was his 17th foreign trip since he took office in June last year.

He has been to Singapore three times, also thrice to Indonesia, once to New York to address the United Nations and to London to attend the coronation of King Charles.

Mr. Marcos has also visited Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Belgium, Japan, China, Switzerland and the United States.

In his second State of the Nation Address, he said his trips abroad had generated P3.9 trillion in investment pledges that could potentially generate 175,000 jobs.

At a palace briefing in July, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said that a total of $88 million, or around P4.8 billion, in foreign investments had materialized from these pledges.

He said that the $88 million came from just six projects. Pascual said all of them had commenced but he declined to give details.

He acknowledged, however, that not all the pledges may materialize.

—WITH REPORTS FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH AND REUTERS