Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, in his address to the G20 heads of state, emphasized the need for continued support to the vulnerable segments of society amid the COVID-19 crisis.

According to the details, he said that there is a need to increase spending on research and vaccines. “From the onset of the pandemic and in an attempt to jump-start the global response, we met in an extraordinary summit last March where we all took swift and collective actions to counter this crisis. We continue to do so,” said the King.

The king said the pandemic is a true test for global health systems, so “through the G20 presidency, we utilized a number of vital initiatives to close the pandemic preparedness and response gaps.”

He added: “During our presidency, with the support of the G20 members, we proposed the Access to Pandemic Tools (APT) initiative, which aims at ensuring a focus on sustainable preparedness and response to counter any future pandemic. We look forward to furthering this discussion and implementation during the Italian presidency next year.”