King Salman opens G20 summit in Riyadh

The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud opened the G20 Riyadh Summit, today, Nov. 21.

The G20 Leaders' Summit is held under the Theme of "Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All".

At his G20 opening remarks, King Salman said, "We would like to welcome you to Riyadh Summit; our second Summit of the year. It is unfortunate that we are unable to host you in person due to the exceptional circumstances that we are all facing this year."

"This has been an extraordinary year. The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented shock that affected the entire world within a short period of time," the King said. "We have expressed our commitment - during the extraordinary summit held in March - to urgently mobilize our resources. We all pledged at the onset of the crisis over $21 trillion to support the global efforts to combat this pandemic."

The King added that extraordinary measures were taken to support economies by injecting over $11 trillion to support individuals and businesses.

"To this end, we have provided emergency support to the developing countries, including the G20 debt service suspension initiative to the low-income country," the King said. "We need to promote access to opportunities available to all, especially women and youth, to enhance their roles in the society and in the job market through education, training, job creation as well as supporting entrepreneurship, strengthening financial inclusion and bridging the digital gaps among individuals," the King said.   

"We also need to create the conditions for a more sustainable economy. Therefore, we have advocated the circular carbon economy as an effective approach for achieving our climate goals and ensuring energy systems that are cleaner, more sustainable and more affordable." 

"We must lead the international community in preserving and conserving our environment.  In this context, we need to combat land degradation and conserve coral reefs and biodiversity to send a strong signal about our commitment to safeguard our planet," the King said.

He added that realizing that trait is a key driver of economic recovery. "We have adopted the Riyadh initiative on the future of the WTO with the aim of making the multilateral trading system more capable to face any present or future challenges."

The G20 leaders met for the first time 12 years ago in response to the financial crisis. The outcomes achieved are ample proof that the G20 is the most prominent forum for international cooperation and for tackling global crises. 

"Today, we are working together again to face another deeper global crisis that has ravaged people and economies. With our coming together once more, I am confident that the Summit will deliver significant and decisive results and will lead to adopt economic and social policies that will restore hope and reassurance to the people of the world," the King concluded. 

The G20 Summit this year aims to lay the foundations for a more comprehensive, robust and sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which will lead to building a stronger and better world.

The Summit will also focus on fostering international action to realize opportunities of the 21st century for all, by empowering people and protecting the planet, whilst harnessing the potential of innovation to shape new frontiers.

In the run-up to G20 Leaders’ Summit in Riyadh, the Saudi Presidency hosted several meetings featuring Ministers, senior government officials as well as civil society representatives.

The G20 summit is happening as Covid-19 continues to spread almost a year after it was first detected in China. It we will build on the strong legacy of the G20 Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on COVID-19, which was held last March, and the outcomes of the Labour and Ministerial meetings that crossed 100 meetings.

On March 26, the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit on COVID-19 issued a statement, announcing commitment to take all necessary health measures and seek to ensure adequate financing to contain the pandemic and protect people, especially the most vulnerable.