Manila, July 25 (AseanAll)  — Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro held bilateral talks with Waleed Bin Abdulkarim Al-Khereiji, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the sidelines of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) held on 24 July 2026 in Manila. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) acceded to the TAC in 2023.

Lazaro expressed gratitude to the Saudi government for enabling 5,300 Filipino Muslims to perform the sacred Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. KSA remains a primary destination for the overseas Filipino workforce, currently hosting roughly 970,000 Filipinos.

During the meeting,  Lazaro also took the opportunity to thank the Saudi government for the successful operation this year of two pairs of Filipino conjoined twins, who are beneficiaries of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) Saudi Conjoined Twins Program. Muraikhi cited the significant contributions of the Filipino community in KSA, noting that they are well-assimilated. The Vice Minister also thanked the Philippines for its support to KSA in its recent candidatures.

Acknowledging that people-to-people relations are excellent yet much can be pursued in other areas of mutual cooperation such as trade and investment, both officials agreed to schedule the next round of political consultations this year. To this end, both Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening bilateral cooperation between the Philippines and KSA, citing the friendly relations between the two countries, which have spanned 56 years.

Lazaro and Muraikhi also shared views on regional issues, especially as regards the situation in the Middle East. Both agreed that international law must be upheld.

The meeting ended with both officials expressing optimism in broadening the two countries’ fields of cooperation and looked forward to more mutually beneficial engagements and partnerships in the coming years.