Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Saturday stressed the Kingdom’s belief in working with a joint, integrative approach to achieve development, prosperity and stability.
Delivering the Kingdom’s speech on behalf of King Salman at the G77+China Summit in the Cuban capital, Havana, Prince Faisal conveyed greetings from the Saudi leadership and their wishes for the success of the annual meeting.
He said that his country paid great attention to development issues, and through the Saudi Fund for Development, had contributed to financing more than 700 development projects in more than 85 countries, with a total exceeding $18 billion and targeting sectors such as social infrastructure, transportation and agriculture.
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The humanitarian aid provided by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center since its establishment in 2015 had exceeded $6 billion and helped 91 countries, Bin Farhan said.
The Saudi minister stressed the importance of investing in clean energy technology, which would facilitate a fair and comprehensive transition to clean energy, as the Kingdom operated within the framework of a circular carbon economy that contributed to reducing carbon emissions.
Prince Faisal said that strengthening international cooperation was an essential factor for achieving global climate goals, especially in innovation, research and development to promote clean energy technologies and achieve net-zero emissions ambitions.
He said that the Kingdom viewed sustainability as a driving force for growth and progress, and strove to integrate economic, social and environmental aspects into development initiatives.
“The Kingdom shares with the world the challenges (that countries) face in achieving sustainable development goals, including environmental challenges,” he told delegates.
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“The Kingdom works in this direction through several initiatives, including the Middle East Green Initiative and the Saudi Green Initiative, which contribute to achieving global goals to combat climate change,” he said.
Prince Faisal said that this included the Kingdom’s recent announcement of the “establishment of a global water organization that aims to develop and integrate the efforts of countries and organizations to ensure the sustainability of water resources to enhance opportunities for everyone to access them in order to address water challenges in a comprehensive manner.
“The Kingdom is also exerting all efforts within the framework of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and working within the Vision 2030 to protect lands and natural resources and avoid the causes of land degradation and desertification,” he said.
The minister said that Saudi Arabia was looking forward to hosting member states of the UNCCD in the capital, Riyadh, next year.
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The Kingdom was also keen to consolidate its role in the Digital Cooperation Organization, which aimed to bridge the digital gap between countries, and paid great attention to digital and information technology as these have become essential tools in societies, and building an advanced digital sector was a key focus of Vision 2030.
The Kingdom’s delegation participating in the summit included the permanent representative to the UN in New York Abdulaziz Al-Wasel, the ambassador to Cuba Faisal Al-Harbi, and the director-general of the foreign minister’s office Abdulrahman Al-Daoud.
The Group of 77 is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the UN, which provides the means for the countries of the South to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues within the UN system, and promote South-South cooperation for development.
Although the members of the bloc, which was established in 1964, have increased to 134 countries, the original name has been retained due to its historic significance.
Cuba took over the rotating presidency in January and this year’s agenda tackled the fight against climate change, the global economic system and the Russia-Ukraine war.