“As we celebrate our Independence Day, we look forward to a stronger bilateral ties with the Kingdom,” Villamor said at a reception held in Riyadh early Monday.

Both Villamor and Consul General Ezzedin H. Tago, who spoke at another reception in Jeddah, thanked Saudi officials and members of the diplomatic corps for attending the Independence Day celebrations.

Riyadh Deputy Gov. Prince Sattam and Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghonaim attended the Riyadh reception. In Jeddah, Ali A. Gazzaz, head of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makkah province, was the chief guest.

Prince Sattam noted the contribution made by the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) toward the development of Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that there are some 1.4 million OFWs in the Kingdom. “Filipino migrant workers have helped a lot in the Kingdom’s development — in construction and medical fields,” Villamor quoted Prince Sattam as saying.

The envoy said a Filipino delegation comprising deans from leading nursing colleges in the Philippines and headed by Labor Undersecretary Carmelita Pineda visited Riyadh recently. The delegation met with Ministry of Health Undersecretary Ali Al-Qahtani and agreed to train licensed Filipino nurses for possible employment at the Ministry of Health’s hospitals and clinics.

The nursing college deans visited local hospitals, including the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center in Riyadh, to observe and gather data that will be the basis of the program they will develop for the training.

OFWs started coming to the Kingdom in the mid-1970s to work at construction sites in Dhahran, Yanbu and Jeddah.

Villamor noted that one area in which OFWs are playing an important role is the nursing sector. According to the Riyadh-based group Filipino Nurses Society in Saudi Arabia, there are some 80,000 Filipino nurses at various hospitals and clinics in Saudi Arabia.

Last year, a Saudi delegation comprising 26 Saudi businessmen visited the Philippines for three days and indicated to local officials their intention to acquire tracts of land for production of cassava and sugar.

In Jeddah, Consul General Tago said, “President Arroyo, who visited the Kingdom twice last year, places great importance in promoting Saudi-Philippine relations. The Filipino community here sincerely and strongly feels this.”

The consulate with its large staff is there to rededicate itself to the welfare of the community, the consul general added. Together with the Jeddah-based Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Philippine Investment and Trade Center, the consulate looks forward to a fruitful year for all members of the community, he said.

He hoped that the bilateral trade relations would continue to expand and invited Saudis to invest in his country.

A cake-cutting ceremony followed the reception in Jeddah in which Gazzaz and Tago were joined by some consuls general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ countries.