Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Wednesday stressed the need to adopt collaborative endeavors to deal with the challenging situation of Covid-19 and agreed to stay closely engaged.
Qureshi in a telephonic call with Prince Faisal expressed deep condolences on the loss of lives due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Saudi Arabia. He commended the steps taken by the Kingdom in controlling the spread of the virus and also briefed Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the measures being taken by Pakistan to contain coronavirus.
Foreign Minister Qureshi felicitated his Saudi counterpart on the successful initiative of convening the Virtual G-20 Leaders Summit, and stated that Saudi leadership of the G-20 is key to forging a coordinated and coherent global response to the crisis. In this context, he also highlighted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for debt relief and restructuring for developing states to enable them to free up resources to combat the disease, save precious lives and shore up economies.
Qureshi reiterated Pakistan’s strong condemnation of recent missile attacks launched towards Riyadh and Jazan, noting that the timely action of Saudi Defence Forces helped save many lives. He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s full solidarity with the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia and support for the security and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal thanked Foreign Minister Qureshi for his call in the context of Covid-19 and underlined that the steps taken by his country to stem the outbreak are essential for saving lives. He also expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s principled stance on the missile attacks and highlighted the steps taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to counter such attacks.
The Saudi foreign minister thanked the foreign minister for his felicitations on successful convening of Virtual G20 Leaders Conference and affirmed that a number of measures, including the proposal for debt re-structuring, were deliberated upon during the Conference to help tackle the economic consequences of Covid-19.
