Saudi King, Donald Trump discuss G20 efforts to combat Covid-19 pandemic

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and US President Donald Trump discussed the efforts of the G20 group to combat the global Covid-19 pandemic over a phone call, state-media reported on Monday.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the the two leaders reviewed the work of the G20 chaired by Riyadh this year, and the efforts made within its meetings to protect lives and livelihoods from the impact of the pandemic.

They also reviewed the most prominent policies that have been agreed upon to reduce the negative aspects of the pandemic on peoples and the global economy, Xinhua news agency quoted SPA as saying in its report.

King Salman stressed that Saudi Arabia will continue to support and coordinate the group to confront the effects of the global health crisis on the human and economic levels.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the G20 countries have been holding regular meetings to deal with impacts of the deadly virus in various sectors.

During a summit in March, the G20 leaders vowed to pump more than $5 trillion into the international economy.

The Saudi King also appreciated the efforts made by the US to promote regional peace, affirming the Kingdom's keenness to reach a lasting and just solution to the Palestinian cause through the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by the Kingdom in 2002.

Under a historic US-brokered accord on August 13, the United Arab Emirates agreed to become the third Arab state to normalise ties with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan.

Under the Initiative, Arab nations have offered Israel normalised ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

--IANS

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