Covid-19 at the heart of a virtual G20 organized for the first time by Saudi Arabia

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, in Diriya (Saudi Arabia) on December 7, 2019 Saudi Royal Palace / AFP / Archives

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Saudi Arabia is hosting this weekend's virtual summit the 20 most industrialized countries in the world.

On the menu of this meeting the negative fallout from the pandemic, but also the aid that the richest countries may or may not grant to the poorest countries hit by the economic crisis and over-indebtedness. 

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We hope from this G20 for better coordination of fiscal stimulus plans.

To be sure, $ 12 trillion has been spent to curb the global crisis.

But there is still a lack of a multilateral crisis exit strategy.

On this subject, the European Union expects a lot from the new American administration. 

The International Monetary Fund has also urged the G20 countries " 

 " the trade restrictions put in place " 

 " to support the recovery and prevent the global recession from turning into a depression, in the words of the chief. UN, Antonio Guterres. 

The World Health Organization also lacks $ 4.5 billion to distribute vaccines against the coronavirus.

Here again, the G20 countries are expected to fill this gap.

So far the G20 has not at all lived up to the expectations one might have of it.

Sébastien Jean, director of CEPII, the Center for Prospective Studies and International Information

The reduction or even the cancellation of the debt

of poor countries is also on the menu of this summit.

Seventy-three countries would be eligible for debt restructuring, including 38 African countries, and announcements on this issue are expected.

For the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has partially agreed to join the rest of the donors and no longer go it alone.

The Middle Empire gives loans in an opaque way, according to Western donors.

Holding between 20 and 40% of the debt of southern countries, especially African countries, the Chinese did not join in the 6-month moratorium decided last April,

A major stake for Saudi Arabia

But this G20 also has particularly important issues for Saudi Arabia.

The Wahhabi kingdom, which chairs this G20 and organizes this summit, is the only Arab country to be a member of the G20 and this is the first time that it has hosted its annual meeting.

It is therefore a political and image issue for a country regularly criticized for its human rights violations.

Saudi Arabia is making intense efforts to promote its ambitious economic reforms.

Under the reign of King Salman and under the leadership of his son Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman, the kingdom is shaping the new image of a country where women now have the right to drive and where one can now travel to cinema which was banned until 2018.

The Khashoggi affair and the war in Yemen

But these real changes fail to obscure

 and the humanitarian disaster caused by the entry into war in 2015 in this country of a coalition commanded by Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is also regularly criticized for its repression of opponents, especially feminist activists, imprisoned for several years.

In October 2018, the Jamal Khashoggi affair, this dissident journalist assassinated in his country's consulate in Istanbul, sparked consternation among Riyadh's closest allies.

The American CIA believes that the crime was ordered by Saudi power.

Saudi Arabia has always denied and it is preparing to see Donald Trump leave the White House, he who has continued to show unwavering support for the kingdom.

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• Mohammed bin salman

• Saudi Arabia

• G20