Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed and Head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis. WAM

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has received a phone call from Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church, in which they discussed the close UAE-Vatican relations and ways to bolster them to serve mutual interests.

During the call, Sheikh Mohammed and Pope Francis also discussed the latest coronavirus developments, and the global efforts being exerted to curb it.

They both stressed the importance of human solidarity in fighting the pandemic, saying that the principles of the Human Fraternity Document - which was signed in Abu Dhabi last year - can better equip the world to successfully respond to the pandemic on all levels, including on the humanitarian, economic, and medical fronts.

Pope Francis praised Emirati humanitarian values of always extending a helping hand to those in need. He also thanked the UAE for collaborating with the Vatican to provide medical and food aid to those affected by the pandemic, especially to indigenous people living in the Peruvian Amazon.

Earlier this week, the UAE dispatched a plane loaded with 15 metric tons of medical and food aid to the Peruvian Amazon River area, delivering the first batch of 40 metric tons of aid dedicated to those affected by COVID-19 in the region.

The supplies will help those affected in the city of Iquitos, a city of 400,000 people located on one of the Amazon River's streams in Peru's dense Amazon forest.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the UAE has provided medical assistance amounting to around 1,000 tons, which reached nearly 963,000 health workers in 68 countries around the world.

WAM