RIYADH — The works of the Group of Twenty (G20) have focused on protecting lives and livelihoods, shaping a better world to realize the opportunities of the 21st century for all, and laying foundations for restoring a strong, sustainable, balanced, and comprehensive growth, following long-term global health, humanitarian and economic challenges imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Saudi G20 presidency highlighted the issues and challenges affecting sustainable development, including tackling aspects, equal opportunities, and weaknesses in debt with the aim of providing the necessary financing for sustainable development as the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the countries of the world, particularly the most vulnerable groups, including women, children, and low-income categories.

The G20 members have adopted exceptional and unprecedented measures to address the implications of the pandemic, including financial measures and others related to monetary stability. More than $11 trillion has been pumped to support the global economy.

The group's countries have also allocated $21 billion to support the global health system in order to respond and address the pandemic.

The Saudi G20 presidency also launched the historical initiative to suspend debt service payments "G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)," which allowed the poorest countries to postpone $14 billion of debts owed by them this year and to benefit from these sums to address the pandemic. As many as 46 low-income countries have benefited from this initiative. The multilateral development banks seek to provide USD 75 billion during the period from April to December 2020 to the DSSI-eligible countries to benefit from the initiative.

Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan has explained that the G20 Leaders' Summit, under the Saudi presidency, aims to strengthen international cooperation to support the stage of global economic recovery and lay solid foundations for a phase of strong, sustainable, balanced and comprehensive growth.

Al-Jadaan expressed his optimism that this summit will achieve fruitful outcomes in the interest of the international community and global economy.

It's worth mentioning that the Saudi G20 presidency is held under the theme of “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All". — SG