The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has denied that it is in dispute with the Ministry of Labor in the Philippines over manpower issues. The ministry's spokesman, Khalid Aba Al-Khail, said in a tweet, "There is no truth about any dispute between the two ministries over the recruitment of Filipino manpower for work in the Kingdom." The labor ministries in the two countries signed an agreement to upgrade the existing pacts between them on the recruitment of Filipino workers during the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to the Kingdom in April. There are more than 600,000 Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia, according to data released by the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department.