King Salman expresses his hope to restore reassurance and hope to the peoples of the world

The opening of the G20 leaders' summit activities "hypothetically" in Saudi Arabia

Yesterday, the Saudi monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, inaugurated the work of the 15th session of the G20 leaders' summit meetings virtually heading to talk, on a screen, to other leaders, at the start of exceptional virtual meetings that are overshadowed by the efforts to combat the emerging Corna virus. And the global economic crisis, King Salman stressed that peoples and economies are suffering from this shock, expressing his confidence that joint efforts during the Riyadh summit will lead to important and decisive effects, and the adoption of economic and social policies that will restore reassurance and hope to the peoples of the world.

World leaders met at the summit organized by an Arab country for the first time, while global efforts are intensifying to achieve and distribute vaccines against the emerging corona virus on a large scale, following recent successful experiences, and as calls continue to be made for the G20 countries to fill the deficit in a special fund to finance these efforts.

The summit’s work is small and brief compared to what it was in the past, as it was usually an opportunity for bilateral dialogues between world leaders, this time being limited to online sessions as part of what observers call “digital diplomacy”.

King Salman said in his opening speech: "We regret that we did not receive you in Riyadh, given the difficult circumstances that we all face this year."

He added, in the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: "Our peoples and economies are still suffering from this shock, but we will do our best to overcome this crisis through international cooperation."

He continued, "I am confident that our joint efforts during the Riyadh summit will lead to important and decisive effects, and the adoption of economic and social policies that will restore reassurance and hope to the peoples of the world."

King Salman stressed that the leaders of the G20 should work to create conditions that allow access to vaccines in a fair and affordable way to provide them to all peoples, in addition to other tools to fight the "Covid-19" pandemic, adding: "We are encouraged by the progress made in finding vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools for the virus. (Corona), but we must work to create conditions that allow access to it in a fair and affordable way to provide it to all peoples, and at the same time we have to better prepare for future epidemics.

He added, "We must continue to support the global economy and reopen our economies and the borders of our countries to facilitate the movement of trade and individuals. We must provide support to developing countries in a coordinated manner, to maintain the development progress made over the past decades."

He continued, "We must also create the conditions to create a more sustainable economy. Therefore, we have promoted the principle of a circular carbon economy as an effective approach to achieving our goals related to climate change, and ensuring the creation of cleaner, more sustainable and more affordable energy systems."

He pointed out that «out of the Kingdom’s realization that trade is an essential engine for the recovery of economies, we have endorsed the Riyadh initiative regarding the future of the World Trade Organization, with the aim of making the multilateral trading system more capable of facing current and future challenges.

The Saudi monarch added that this year was exceptional, as the emerging corona virus pandemic constituted an unprecedented shock that affected the whole world within a short period, and this pandemic caused economic and social losses to the world.

Although the meetings were held via the screen, the Kingdom held a party for the media on the eve of the summit, and the image of the G20 leaders was displayed on the walls of the historic Dir'iya area in Riyadh.

The organizers said that the G20 countries pumped 11 trillion dollars to protect the global economy, and contributed more than 21 billion dollars to combat the emerging Corona epidemic, which infected about 55 million people worldwide, and left about 1.3 million deaths.

Last week, the group’s finance ministers announced a "common framework" for a debt restructuring plan for the countries affected by the virus.

In a letter to the G20 leaders, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the need for more work to reduce debt.

The Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramapusa, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a letter, called on the countries of the group to provide 4.5 billion dollars to fill a financial deficit in a vaccine fund led by World Health Organization.

On the eve of the opening of the summit, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her hope that the United States would renew its commitment to a multilateral approach, especially in combating the epidemic and climate change, after the Democratic President-elect, Joe Biden, assumed power.

She explained that she expects a "new rush by the new US administration" in the field of climate, "given Biden's statement about his country's re-entry into the Paris Agreement" from which Trump withdrew.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz:

• “We must continue to support the global economy, and reopen our economies and the borders of our countries.”

• “We are encouraged by the progress made in finding vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools for the Coronavirus.”

• Guterres calls for debt relief ... and the European Commission calls on the United States to renew its commitment to the multilateral approach.

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