The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirmed that it will always work in partnership with the United Nations and the international community to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 for a beautiful present and a bright future for future generations, in which all enjoy equal opportunities, while ensuring that no one is left behind.
This came in the Kingdom's speech today at themeeting of the Commission for Social Development of the Economic and SocialCouncil at the 58th session of the United Nations in New York delivered by thethird Secretary Muhammad bin Issam Khashan, a member of the Kingdom's permanentdelegation to the United Nations.
Muhammad Khashan clarified, at the beginning of the speech, that the Kingdom's delegation supports the statement made by the delegation of Guyana on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, expressing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's deep solidarity with the government and people of China in its struggle against the Corona virus, and its full confidence in the efforts of the Chinese government to contain this bitter humanitarian crisis.
He stated that within the framework ofstrengthening the social protection of the anti-displacement policy, theMinistry of Housing was able to raise the rate of Saudi families' ownership ofhousing to 62% of the total housing until mid-2019 through the Maskani programthat began in 2017 to provide housing units distributed in various regions ofthe Kingdom that has reached its total value of infrastructure development, 14billion riyals, of which 4 billion are for the delivery and construction ofpower stations, and more than 3 billion, the value of 7 new infrastructureprojects in the electricity sector.
He stated that the program aims to providehousing solutions in various regions of the Kingdom that enable Saudi familiesto own and benefit from appropriate homes according to their needs and materialcapabilities and improve conditions for current and future generations byproviding supportive and appropriate financing solutions in parallel withincreasing the supply of housing units at reasonable prices in a record period,indicating that the Ministry of Housing aims to increase the ownershippercentage by at least 70% by 2030.
The member of the Kingdom's delegation to theUnited Nations said, "We in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are aware of theimportance of primary health care in implementing the new care model and beingan essential pillar for achieving universal health coverage, in line with theAstana agreement at the World Conference on Primary Health Care on October 25,2018."
He added that the Kingdom has taken acceleratedsteps in this field by developing the infrastructure of primary health carecenters, increasing specialized clinics in them including psychiatric clinics,increasing training programs for family and nursing doctors, and activating thecommunity role of these centers, as well as providing primary mobile healthcare clinics to serve remote areas.
He referred to developing e-health solutions tofacilitate beneficiaries' access to primary health care services throughappointment reservation services (more than 80 million appointments werescheduled through this service) as well as the service to obtain medical advicefrom accredited doctors.
Khashan emphasized that with regard to issuesand policies for youth, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given their issues amajor priority, as it has established specialized programs and centers tosupport young people, such as the King Salman Center for Youth, and youngleadership programs, and has also been keen to involve them in thedecision-making process, as it has appointed a large number among them are inhigh positions in the state, believing that it is ambitious youth ideas thatwill lead the development process.
He drew attention to the fact that he was awareof the Kingdom that the real investment in the citizen would be to upgrade hiscapabilities. The Kingdom was keen on good investment in the education sector,as it provided free education for all levels within the Kingdom, includinghigher education, indicating that the Kingdom has made more than a decade oftime to provide opportunities for external scholarship, benefited from morethan a quarter of a million students who have been dispatched to more than 30countries, making the Kingdom has a generation able to address the world in allits languages, and an active partner in development.
