In an exclusive telephone interview during her visit to Riyadh on Tuesday, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, focused on measures by her country to strengthen economic ties with the Kingdom. Arroyo talked about means to tackle the biting global economic crisis. Arroyo came here on Monday on a side trip from Italy after attending the Davos World Economic Forum. Excerpts from the interview:Q: Honorable President, what was the purpose of this surprise visit? A: I was in Davos and I'm on my way to Bahrain. So I decided that I will come to Riyadh since I'm in the area and the visit is principally anchored on furthering bilateral relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, particularly in the field of investments…because to the fiscally strong, the global credit crunch that the world is experiencing now is a time of opportunity and to the likes of Saudi Arabia this is the time to fill the financial vacuum. Also it is important to share that financial capacity is ability to decide and move quickly. Saudi Arabia is a bastion of wealth with both financial capacity and quick execution, given its all wealth and its decisive leadership. The fact that the Philippines has Mindanao close to the heart of Saudi Arabia opens up a window of opportunity for Saudi investments in the Philippines. Q: So did the Saudis promise financial support to your government? A: Well, since my state visit here the last time ... Prince Al-Waleed invested in the Philippines and in fact already right now he is building two top towers, the Raffles Hotel and Fairmont, and I had a meeting with him today and he said that they are very successful so far. Q: What was the outcome of your meeting with Prince Al-Waleed and what is the total cost of the of these two projects? A: He's building Raffles Hotel and also Fairmont Hotel. And in the condominium part of it, it's already 50 percent bought so it's very successful. Q: What other subjects were discussed with Saudi ministers you met? A: The Minister of Agriculture will lead a delegation to the Philippines in April to look at the areas for agriculture investment. Q: So you'r giving land free? A: No, it's a commercial land, it's a commercial transaction just like the transaction of the Saudi investments in agriculture in Ethopia and in Sudan. Q: Same scheme? A: More or less. Q: There were reports that you might request the King for clemency of Filipino workers. Have you discussed these areas? A: You know the last time I came here when I made my state visit His Majesty pardoned 700 Filipino workers. So I might be writing to him a letter about some requests of the Filipino community regarding some prisoners who are in jail for minor offenses. That will come later because I'm already very happy and grateful for the 700 that he pardoned the last time I came here. Q: How can this relation reach a strategic partnership, with special emphasis on investment and economic front? A: The Philippines and Saudi Arabia already have a strong strategic partnership that is based on years of solid Saudi-Filipino people to people relations. As I said earlier to you Kingdom's Holdings have invested in our nation. You are also a valued trading partner. We buy a lot of oil from you and you buy bananas, pineapples, mango and papaya from us. You employ over 1.4 million of our expatriate workers. So the relations are really quite good and we are very happy about the success of our efforts to sustain the economic growth and stability in our country and also new investment and trade opportunities that have been developed. I mentioned, for instance, the tourism investments of Prince Al-Waleed and Kingdom Holdings, and the prospects for agriculture investment and take opportunities for instance of the halal market. Saudi Arabia is now open to the Philippines because they have been able to have our halal products certified in Saudi Arabia. So I'm confident that this relationship will continue to prosper to the benefit of both our nations. Q: How are you dealing with the financial crisis? What are the means? Are you cutting down expenses or how are you going about this? A: On the contrary we have a fiscal stimulus package and I'm very happy to say that we can afford this now because we already paid and we already took our bitter medicine several years ago. It was very painful tax reforms and reforms of our banking system and so disciplined spending. So now that we need to have a fiscal stimulus in order to prevent the world crisis into becoming a Philippine crisis. We have the means to stimulate spending in our economy. Q: On the political level can you shed light on what are the subjects being discussed because we are only talking about business and economics? A: My main mission here was economic because I already had my state visit years ago and that was the time to talk about politics. Q: Are we expecting the King to visit your country? A: Well, of course we always welcome him whenever he is in the neighborhood but we will leave it up to His Majesty to make that decision. Q: What is your message to 1.5 million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia? A: My message to our countrymen and women in Saudi Arabia is one of thanks for your contribution to your families and our economy but also to your showing Saudi Arabia and the world that the excellent reputation of the Filipino expatriate is well-deserved. I want them to know that their government is doing everything it can to support our workers in Saudi Arabia and around the world just as we are doing everything needed to continue to build an economy that will welcome them with opportunities when they return to the Philippines. Q: The other skilled workers are scared that they might be leaving the country, how would you make them feel ok that they are here as long as they are doing their job? A: Well, that is really for the Saudis to assure them. In case they need to go home, we will be helping the Filipinos re-integrate into the Philippine economy. We are making this to make sure that jobs are made available. I'm glad to have reported to them that even some jobs are being lost, not necessarily in Saudi Arabia but in other countries, more jobs are being created for them.
