Qatar supports PH peace initiatives in Bangsamoro

FILE: Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. attended his first DND-AFP Command Conference as Secretary of National Defense. The activity was presided over by AFP Chief of Staff General Andres Centino at the AFP Commissioned Officers Club in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. (Photos by Pinky Rose Fernandez/ DND, DCommS via Department of National Defense – Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – The Qatari government strongly supports all Philippine efforts to expedite the Bangsamoro peace process.

This was emphasized following the recent courtesy call of Qatar Ambassador to the Philippines, Ahmed Saad Al-Homidi, to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.

“At the meeting, Al-Homidi expressed the Qatari government’s full support to the Philippine government’s initiatives, particularly in the areas of education and health, as well as its interventions to push forward the Bangsamoro peace process,” OPAPRU said in its Facebook post late Monday.

In the same visit, the diplomat said a delegation from the Qatar Fund for Development will be meeting with officials from the Philippines’ Departments of Health, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Education, and National Economic Development Authority on July 27.

The Qatari delegation will also meet with ranking officials of OPAPRU and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“The delegation will be briefed by OPAPRU on the Bangsamoro peace process, especially on the political and normalization tracks of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” OPAPRU added.

Galvez said that OPAPRU will facilitate the meeting between the visiting Qatari group and BARMM officials.

Qatar is an active member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It has expressed its interest to support the Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund, one of the remaining commitments under the 1996 final peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front.