Bahrain Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa met with Philippines President Gloria Arroyo at the presidential palace Wednesday, November 7 on the second day of a three-day visit, officials said.
The two officials and their cabinet members held bilateral talks after Arroyo conferred an honorary decoration on Sheikh Khalifa, palace officials said. Ministers of the two governments are to sign two agreements later Wednesday -- one on avoidance of double taxation, and the other for promotion and protection of investments.
Annual two-way trade totaled less than seven million dollars, the foreign department here said. But the Gulf emirate hosts about 25,000 Filipino workers. Arroyo, in conferring the Order of Sikatuna Award to the prime minister, cited him and his government "for having been a true friend of the Filipino community in Bahrain, thereby serving as example to the Royal Family of Bahrain."
Sheikh Khalifa is on an Asian swing that has so far taken him to Malaysia and Thailand. — (AFP, Manila)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
