King Salman: International cooperation, joint action optimal way to overcome crises

Agencies | Neom

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud affirmed that the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) proved that international cooperation and joint action are the optimal way to overcome crises.

"We must focus on the most vulnerable groups, as we will not be able to overcome this pandemic unless we ensure the availability of the necessary support for all countries. We would not be safe until everyone is safe," the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said in his speech during the side event of the G20 Leaders' Summit on "Pandemic Preparedness and Response".

The world faces "an unprecedented global health challenge for the individuals, the community and the economy," he said, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic and within our effort to advance the scope of the global response, we met during the extraordinary summit last March. We took swift and collective measures to counter this crisis and we all still do it."

The focus must be on the most vulnerable groups, as the world will not be able to overcome this pandemic unless it ensures the availability of the necessary support for all countries, he stressed.

Saudi Arabia participated in April with a number of countries and organizations in launching "the Access to COVID-19 Tools-Accelerator" initiative.

Saudi Arabia also participated in leading the international efforts to gather donations with the aim of bridging the financing gap to meet the global need in order to develop and distribute the vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools. The Kingdom committed $500 million to achieve this goal, King Salman added

"In light of the progress that we are witnessing in developing coronavirus vaccines, our top priority is to ensure affordable and equitable access to the vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools for all," he said

"This pandemic is a real test of our global health systems. During our presidency of the G20, we have benefited from a number of pivotal initiatives to address gaps in the preparedness and the response to the global pandemics. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Presidency of the G20 also proposed, with the support of the G20 countries, launching an initiative to provide tools for combating pandemics, which aims to ensure the focus on the preparedness and the response to future pandemics in a sustainable manner. We look forward to furthering this discussion and implementation of this initiative during the Italian presidency next year."

Through cooperation, the goal of protecting lives and livelihoods and shaping a better world to realize the opportunities of the 21st century for all will be achieved, he said.