President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will hold bilateral talks with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain at the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) Summit this week.

In a press briefing in Malacanang last Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed that the President will leave for Riyadh on Thursday to attend the summit on Oct. 20.

DFA Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said the meeting aims to strengthen Philippine diplomatic relations with the countries.

During his talks with Saudi officials, he said Marcos will also promote the Maharlika Investment Fund, possible Arab assistance to the development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

Marcos is also expected to get updates on the unpaid salaries of over 10,000 OFWs, displaced in the construction sector in KSA from 2015 and 2016.

The bilateral talks will be held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-GCC summit, where both regional blocs will be endorsing their framework of cooperation.

"You know, the relations between ASEAN and GCC date back to 1990, but this is the first summit and we intend that this time to intensify cooperation between these two regional organizations because the cooperation has not yet been optimized yet," Espiritu said.

"They can help ASEAN in addressing energy and food security ? energy security because they’re petrochemical powerhouses ? but also food security because some of the countries there, especially Qatar, are among the largest producers of fertilizers and they can fill up the slack or the deficit on the ASEAN side," Espiritu said.

Marcos will fly to Saudi Arabia on October 19, and then he will leave after attending the ASEAN-GCC dinner on October 20?right after the Summit. DMS