Saudi Arabia; as the holder of the G20 Presidency, will co-lead the Global Response Pledging campaign on Monday along with the European Union. Besides, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Norway to raise funds to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
"The pledging event aims to raise funds for the immediate need of $8bn. This is what the Global Preparedness and Monitoring Board stated is urgently required to develop and deliver a COVID-19 vaccine. Along with diagnostics and therapeutic resources," said the G20 Saudi Secretariat in a statement on Sunday.
The Saudi G20 Presidency also called on global partners to support the funding campaign "to ensure that we can say, for generations to come, that we defeated COVID-19 as a global community."
The Kingdom has already pledged $500mn to support the global fundraising efforts.
"The global pandemic requires a global response and international collaboration. Our priority, as an international community, is to safeguard people and their livelihoods. Besides, making sure the opportunities to recover from this pandemic exist for all," said the statement.
"G20 members took unprecedented action at an unprecedented speed to address the major disruptions caused by the pandemic on public health as well as the global economy," it added.
