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President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday had a telephone conversation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud.

In a press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the conversation is centered about the protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia.

"We all know that Saudi Arabia is leading on the campaign in reforming the kafala system... Their talk centers on strengthening the protection being given to Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia," Roque said.

"They also talked that during this time of pandemic, all countries, whether rich or poor, should have a system in acquiring vaccines," he added.

In a statement from the Office of the President, it said Duterte and the Crown Prince reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

The Office of the President said Mohammed Bin Salman assured Duterte they are fully resolved to do their part in protecting and upholding the rights of Filipino workers.

"For his part, President Duterte recognized Saudi Arabia's efforts to ensure that the rights, welfare and well-being of Filipinos in the Kingdom are protected and upheld, including recent efforts aimed at labor reform," it said.

The two leaders also agreed on the need to ramp up cooperation to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duterte thanked Saudi Arabia for including Filipinos in their vaccination program and the Crown Prince assured that their program will be implemented until all Filipinos are inoculated.

The Crown Prince said the importance of strengthening bilateral economic partnership, stating that efforts will continue to increase trade and investments by the two countries.

Mohammed Bin Salman's call comes after Duterte's speech during the "Migrant Labor Governance and Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration" last April 20 where he strongly called for an end to the kafala sponsorship system. Ella Dionisio/DMS