President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be flying to Saudi Arabia on October 19 to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Gulf Summit.

In a press briefing in Malacañang on Monday, Oct. 16, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Daniel Espiritu said that Marcos will attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit to be held in Riyadh.

Espiritu said framework of cooperation between ASEAN and Gulf countries will be laid out at such a conference.

He also added that it is important as the Arab countries are well-known for having highly developed economies.

Apart from the summit, Espiritu said the President has scheduled bilateral meetings with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The DFA official said Marcos will also check the Filipino community in the Gulf countries, consisting of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to Espiritu, up to 2.2 million Filipinos are in the Gulf, of which 700,000 are in Saudi Arabia.