Riyadh, December 16, 2020, SPA -- Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Engineer Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli and Japanese Minister of Environment Koizumi Shinjiro have signed in a virtual call a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance environmental protection. The memorandum aims to cooperate in promoting environmental protection in accordance with laws and regulations in both countries and to protect and preserve the environment through improving water quality, sanitation, marine protection and combating land degradation and desertification, in addition to administering the planning of coastal zones to protect the infrastructure of roads, residential areas, industrial complexes, desalination plants and ports, as well as early warning to reduce environmental disasters resulting from extreme weather phenomena. For his part, the Japanese Minister of Environment has praised the Kingdom's pioneering roles during its presidency of G20 meetings this year and its success in managing these meetings effectively despite the circumstances accompanying the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to its success in issuing a statement of environment ministers of the twenty countries, which is the first of its kind in the history of the G20 meetings, in addition to its launching of pioneering environmental initiatives. --SPA 15:39 LOCAL TIME 12:39 GMT 0007 www.spa.gov.sa/w1468754