Riyadh, May 03, 2020, SPA -- As the holder of the G20 Presidency, Saudi Arabia has welcomed the global call to action to fund a universally available and affordable COVID-19 vaccination, treatment and diagnostics. Saudi Arabia will co-lead the Global Response Pledging on May 4 along with the European Union, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Norway. The pledging event aims to raise funds for the immediate need of $8 billion USD, which the Global Preparedness and Monitoring Board stated is urgently required to develop and deliver a COVID-19 vaccine, along with diagnostics and therapeutic resources. The global pandemic requires a global response and international collaboration. Our priority, as an international community, is to safeguard people and their livelihoods and make sure the opportunities to recover from this pandemic exist for all. The G20 has been leading the global response and is committed to ‘spare no effort’ in the fight against this pandemic. G20 members have taken unprecedented action at an unprecedented speed to address the major disruptions caused by the pandemic on public health and the global economy. The Saudi G20 Presidency is calling on global partners to support this funding campaign to ensure that we can say, for generations to come, that we defeated COVID-19 as a global community. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has already pledged US$500 million to support the global fundraising efforts. More information about the Global Response Pledging event is available at the Coronavirus Global Response website. Watch the event live on Saudi TV or Europe by Satellite at 4.00pm Arabia Standard Time (UTC +3). Follow @g20org on twitter for live updates. --SPA 22:36 LOCAL TIME 19:36 GMT 0028 www.spa.gov.sa/w1320978