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Islamic countries hold meeting to scale up efforts in fight coronavirus

Jeddah - Saudi Arabia has donated over $500 million in financial support to relevant international organisations.

The Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OIC, has held an extraordinary foreign ministerial meeting, conducted via teleconference, to discuss the implications of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, on the health sector and financial stability in the OIC member states.
The meeting was presided over by Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, the Chair of the 14th Islamic Summit, with the participation of OIC Secretary General Dr Yousef Al Othaimeen.
Opening the meeting, the Saudi Foreign Minister gave a brief account of his country's support to the world in response to the pandemic. He pointed out that Saudi Arabia donated $500 million in financial support to relevant international organisations, in addition to $10 million to the World Health Organisation, WHO, $38 million in health aid to Yemen, and $3 million to Palestine. He added that, Saudi Arabia donated $9 million to the Islamic Solidarity Fund.
The OIC Secretary General said the whole world is in the same boat in the fight against Covid-19; a pandemic with far-reaching implications on a national, regional and global scale. The situation, he stressed, requires more than ever the member states to join forces, enhance their Islamic-driven solidarity, cooperation and coordination.
The foreign ministers, members of the Executive Committee, all stressed the need to tackle the virus and its implications for health, humanitarian, social and economic systems. They also underlined the importance to scale up national preparedness and response measures of prevention and alleviation of the devastating effects of the pandemic.
Furthermore, the ministers hailed the member states for the Covid-19 pre-emptive, timely precautionary measures taken, paying tribute and expressing their support to frontline health workers and all those who deliver basic and life-saving services to coronavirus-hit people in these trying times.
The foreign ministers also commended the Islamic Development Bank's emergency response initiative of allocating funds for the member states to contain the negative effects of the virus.