A high-ranking delegation accompanying the president will include at least five ministers, lawmakers, senior officials and top businessmen, a spokesperson for the Philippine embassy told Gulf Times yesterday.
Arroyo is expected to leave Doha on December 15.
According to the Philippine media, Arroyo may urge Qatar to be the new facilitator in negotiations with the Moro rebels.
“The government is looking at Qatar as the new facilitator in negotiations with Moro rebels to replace Malaysia,” Manila-based Business World Online quoted presidential adviser on the peace process Hermogenes C Esperon, Jr as saying.
“Qatar has been providing us assistance to reach out to the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), being a member of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference). The MILF, I understand, has been asking for international guarantors so Qatar could be one of them,” he said.
Arroyo’s press secretary Jesus Dureza told a Manila daily that the president was expected to ask for the advice of the Qatar government on how to deal with the country’s domestic insurgencies.
He said Qatar “is very strong in interfaith dialogue and in their peace process that they have been involved in Lebanon and therefore it will be a good opportunity also for some exchanges on how the peace process has been attended to in that part of the world.”
During her visit, Arroyo will encourage investments in the Philippines and witness the signing of co-operation agreements, sources said.
The president’s spokesman said that Arroyo would check on the condition of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the midst of a looming global economic downturn.
Qatar hosts over 200,000 Filipino workers, a community source said.
The embassy official said the president’s visit was long overdue, “to be specific since 2005” and the trip was expected to lead to the signing of a double taxation avoidance.
