Saudi Arabia takes safeguarding lives and economy as its top priority

When the G20 Summit in Riyadh is taking place in an exceptional situation of the pandemic, the Kingdom’s priorities are to safeguard the lives and the economy from the impact of the coronavirus.

Speaking at the International Media Center for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Riyadh, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, stated that Saudi Arabia has fought the challenges of the pandemic with great determination and further its aims to formulate solutions to address the crisis by associating with international partners and organizations.

The collective efforts of the G20 to fight the pandemic set an example to the countries that by joining together, the world can easily combat the health crisis, said Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs.

During the roundtable discussion on how the G20 had reconnected the world, Al Jubeir pointed out that by joining together the countries can develop the vaccine much faster and map out an effective protocol to deal with it.

The nations have come together in a village-like mentality to curb the epidemic and the G20 had already offered about $21 billion for the mission of developing vaccines against the COVID-19, Al Jubeir added.

The UAE Minister of State, Reem Al-Hashimi who attended the discussion stated that the pandemic has shown the world how each country is dependent on one another.

“The global challenges are not going to be solved by one nation no matter how strong. And any fragility in one part of the world is going to have a ripple effect everywhere else. The challenge that 2020 has brought was very well-handled by the Kingdom that was able to bring everybody together in such difficult and extraordinary circumstances.”

Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center noted that the Kingdom has been actively supporting global efforts to develop the vaccine and will be one of the early receivers of the shots.

“Saudi Arabia has injected $500 million out of which $200 million is for international and regional organizations’ vaccine and drug development,” Al-Rabeeah added.