Kingdom has lead regional, global initiatives to deal with coronavirus: Saudi aid chief

RIYADH: Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief), has said that the Kingdom, as the president of the 2020 G20, had led many initiatives regionally and globally to mitigate the repercussions of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This came during his participation in the Helsinki Policy Forum, which was held virtually from Helsinki, Finland and was headed by Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto, with participation of a number of representatives of EU and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries.
Al-Rabeeah affirmed that Saudi Arabia, as the host of the G20 Summit and a major player in the MENA region, had implemented many initiatives to mitigate the repercussions and effects of COVID-19 in order to achieve long-term stability.
Al-Rabeeah said that, as an embodiment of these initiatives, the Kingdom announced a donation of over $500 million, including $200 million to support the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight against the pandemic; $150 million to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to develop a vaccine against COVID-19; and $150 million to support the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) toward vaccine development; and $10 million to support the WHO’s fund to support countries with fragile health systems.
He pointed out that Saudi Arabia, through KSRelief, had provided support for countries in the MENA region to combat COVID-19, including medical supplies and tools to Yemen worth $25 million, to Palestine amounting to $4 million, and to Somalia worth $3 million.
Al-Rabeeah reiterated that Saudi Arabia’s policy toward the security and stability of Yemen was unchanging, as the Kingdom had supported and continues to support efforts to bring political stability and peace to the country.