Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, April 16, 2020, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the holder of the G20 Presidency, has pledged US$500 million to relevant international organizations to support global efforts in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. This pledge will support emergency and preparedness response, developing and deploying new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, fulfilling unmet needs for international surveillance and coordination, and ensuring sufficient supplies of protective equipment for health workers. This contribution by the Kingdom comes in response to the commitment made during the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit, which was called for and chaired by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud last month. G20 Leaders agreed to mobilize the needed funds for international organizations response programs. Saudi Arabia will allocate US$150 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI), US$150 million to The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), and US$200 million to other international and regional health organizations and programs. Recognizing the importance of global solidarity and cooperation in combatting this pandemic, the Kingdom has called on all countries, non-governmental organizations, philanthropies, and the private sector to take part in the global efforts to close the required financing gap in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which is estimated to be over $8 billion according to the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB). The G20 continues to take action, under the Saudi Presidency, and will act collectively, immediately and boldly to combat the global effects of this pandemic and to implement priority actions across all G20 workstreams. Further information about the G20, including the Presidency Agenda and full program of events, can be found at www.g20.org --SPA 22:41 LOCAL TIME 19:41 GMT 0028 www.spa.gov.sa/w1308442