RIYADH — The Second G20 Extraordinary Sherpa Meeting was held virtually on Friday, under the Saudi G20 Presidency, with participation from all G20 members, invited countries, and international organizations.

G20 Sherpas took stock of the progress achieved on the commitments by the G20 Leaders in the Extraordinary Leaders’ Summit that was held in March, with a focus on health, global economy, trade and international cooperation.

The Sherpas discussed opportunities to build long-term resilience, such as better prepared health and social protection systems, emergency response for least developing countries, and efforts to protect the environment for a stronger global recovery.

Sherpas also discussed the progress in all the G20 work streams, and the way forward towards the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November.

The Saudi G20 Sherpa, Fahad Almubarak, opened the meeting by highlighting the importance of continuing the G20 collective efforts to achieve the commitments made by the Leaders in response to COVID-19 in order to protect lives, livelihoods and restore growth.

Almubarak emphasized, “A united global leadership is greatly required to emerge from this pandemic stronger and in a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable manner.”

During the meeting, G20 Sherpas expressed their satisfaction on the progress thus far and provided their inputs on the way forward towards future Sherpa Meetings and the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November.

The Saudi G20 Presidency continues to work closely with all G20 members, invited countries and regional and international organizations to foster global cooperation, to promote unity with an aim to strengthen recovery, and resilience towards realizing opportunities of the 21st century for all. — SG