ABU DHABI // The Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah's visit to Manila yesterday helped to reinforce relations between the two countries, according to the Philippine ambassador to the UAE.
"We are confident that Sheikh Abdullah's visit will further enhance and strengthen the excellent relations we share with the UAE," Grace Princesa said yesterday.
The visit marks 30 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries, a relationship the Philippines has made a priority to bolster. Sheikh Abdullah paid a courtesy call to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, vice-president Jejomar Binay and foreign affairs secretary Alberto Romulo during his one-day official visit.
The stop was part of his five-nation working tour of Asia. The tour provides him with an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of ties between the two countries and to advance the well-being and welfare of Filipino workers in the UAE, according to Manila's foreign affairs department.
The other countries on the tour are China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Sheikh Abdullah was accompanied by a delegation from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Investment Corporation, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
The UAE is the Philippines' second-largest trading partner in the Middle East. It is also the second most popular destination - after Saudi Arabia - with Filipinos.
