Duterte Likely to Visit Kuwait

President Rodrigo Duterte may likely visit Kuwait soon following his recent meeting with Kuwaiti Ambassador Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh at Malacañang, Thursday.

“Since the President mentioned it, then I can make confirmation although I was told that I should not. But there is a trip in the offing to Kuwait,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.

Duterte and the Kuwaiti envoy held a closed door meeting on Wednesday amid issues involving the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Kuwait.

“I don’t know the agenda because only the President met with the ambassador. No one was allowed in the room,” Roque said.

“I could only surmise that the invitation was made during the bilateral meeting. I guess Kuwait wants to assure the President that our Filipino nationals are protected in Kuwait and to see for himself,” he added.

The President had earlier ordered a temporary suspension of the OFWs deployment in the Gulf state following the deaths of OFWs there.

Duterte had even said he might ask all Filipinos in Kuwait to go back to Manila if another OFW dies in Kuwait.

“One more incident about a woman, a Filipina being raped there, I’m going to stop, I’m going to ban,” Duterte said in his speech before leaving for his trip to India last month.

There are more than 250,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, many of them working as domestic helpers. (PNA)