Manila - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left Saturday for a three-day official visit to Qatar in a bid to attract investments to boost the Philippine economy.

Arroyo was also expected to meet with executives of Middle East companies employing hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers, to seek assurances of their employment amid the global economic crisis.

She will also meet with the different Philippine ambassadors to the Middle East countries in order to assess the impact of the crisis on the Filipino migrant workers in the area.

The 61-year-old Philippine leader will also enlist the support of the Qatar government in restarting the stalled peace talks with the country's Muslim rebels in the southern region of Mindanao.

Fighting between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas escalated in August after the Supreme court stopped the signing of a key territory deal that would have expanded the existing autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

More than 200 people were killed and more than 500,000 displaced in the subsequent clashes. (dpa)