African cooperation bringing us to a horizon and new areas to achieve Arab-African partnership, particularly in the areas of development and investment. We are required to promote all avenues of cooperation between us and the removal of constraints, especially since there are those who are trying hard to offend Arab-African relations and disrupt its march and progress. We need solidarity to address these attempts from whatever source and those who stand behind them. It is essential for a meeting at this level to deal with the Syrian crisis and the tragic and painful circumstances suffered by its people. Those tragic and painful circumstances have not found the necessary response from the international community to help the ill-fated people to achieve their legitimate hopes and aspirations in a free and dignified life. The Security Council is expected by virtue of being entrusted with keeping international peace and security to unite in light of this catastrophic situation and assume its responsibilities and quickly take a strict and strong position which spares the blood of the Syrians and saves the remnant of their homeland for them. Brothers and sisters The focus on the development and investment goal requires us to seriously work for resolving bilateral disputes through peaceful means and in a manner which preserves the legitimate rights of the parties concerned and leads to the establishment of security and stability in our countries. We believe that coordination between the Arab Peace and Security Council and the African Peace and Security Council will help to address many of these differences. The development challenges are important and necessary for cooperation between Arab and African countries. In this context, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a member of the Group of Twenty, is keen to deal with the global financial crises in a way that limits the impact on the least developed countries. In this context, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has provided development assistance to African countries over the past four decades including non-refundable aid totaling 30 billion dollars. The kingdom has also exempted loans worth six billion dollars. The Saudi Fund for Development has provided soft development loans to finance 345 projects and development programs in 44 African countries in various health, education, housing, social, and infrastructure sectors with a total value of six billion dollars. --More 14:55 LOCAL TIME 11:55 GMT تغريد
