RIYADH — Along with the Kingdom’s efforts to host the G20 summit this coming November, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), in partnership with the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), announced the kick off T20 Summit Season next Thursday, Sept. 17, for around 40 days, which aims to shape the future of prosperity, sustainability, and inclusion around the world.

T20 Summit Season will consist of 11 task forces, and each one will hold a webinar to discuss the key themes and recommendations identified and developed by T20 Saudi Arabia task forces over the course of the year. The 11 webinars will provide the insights and solutions to global critical issues, and gather a group of local and international experts and specialists, and a number of civil society organizations.

"Despite the unprecedented time due to COVID-19 and its consequent challenges, the T20 succeeded in developing the polices and recommendations virtually for the first time, for consideration by the Leaders of G20 member countries during the next summit, and to perform its tasks and achieve its goals," Hossa Almutairi, T20 Sherpa, said.

The T20 Sherpa emphasized that the Saudi T20 has a unique position as women lead 50% of our original task forces. The inclusive, relevant, responsive and comprehensive features are the characterization of our group, as it has built upon previous T20s and will help guide future T20s in years to come.

She pointed out that the T20 responded to the ongoing pandemic by creating a special task force entitled "COVID-19: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Complex Problems," which contributed in analyzing and assessing the impact of COVID 19, and providing recommendations for G20 leaders to eliminate its future risks.

"The T20 is one of the G20 engagement groups, led by the group aims to propose possible policies in order to achieve the aspirations of the G20 countries, inform the public about policy options which can be adopted by the G20 leaders to address global challenges on the range of essential issues covering climate and energy, migration and youth, innovation and technology, multilateralism, economic development and finance, food security, access to water and approaches to complex problems," Almutairi said.

Think20 (T20), kick started its season with a webinar for the TF1 Trade, Investment, and Growth to discuss the enhancement of global trade, and the end of its season will be marked by holding a TF11: (COVID-19) Multidisciplinary Approaches to Complex Problems webinar on Oct 27. Yet the T20 Summit will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.

The Think20 (T20) is the research and policy advice network of the Group of 20 (G20). T20 is an international network of research institutes and think tanks that contributes solutions to global problems through evidence-based research. Almost 150 policy briefs from more than 650 authors were received, which is considered the highest number of researchers participating in a think tank engagement group, compared with the previous G20 summits, as the number of researchers participating reached only 80 in Argentina and 134 in Japan. — SG