(Eagle News)– Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano welcomed on Tuesday, May 1, the call for calm of a Kuwaiti official amid tensions between the Philippines and the Middle Eastern country, saying it would allow both countries to “move forward.”
In a statement, Cayetano said Kuwait’s “gesture,” through Deputy Foreign Minister Nasser al-Subaih, “will allow us to hurdle the challenges we face.”
Cayetano noted that Kuwait was “a country with which we have a shared history and strong people-to-people ties,” and that the two countries’ strong relationship “will withstand this misunderstanding.”
He said the Philippines acknowledges Kuwait’s protection of Overseas Filipino Workers.
“This is a shared goal that should be pursued with willingness to understand and respect where each side is coming from,” he said.
Subaih said Kuwait wants to “remain in direct communication” with the Philippines to resolve the issue between the two countries.
Subaih made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte urged Filipinos in Kuwait to come home.
This was following Kuwait’s recall of its Manila representative and its expulsion of Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa in protest of the rescue of OFWs there by Philippine embassy