| During its year-long leadership, the kingdom wasted no time in initiating efforts to combat the pandemic and keep the wheels of trade turning.
Saudi Arabia successfully hosted the G20 Summit and led the world through one of the worst health and economic crises in more than a generation, with a robust plan that ensured powerful nations acted nimbly and quickly.
With the kingdom helming the initiative, G20 was engaged throughout the year to embark on a range of programmes, such as emergency healthcare and fiscal measures to fight the pandemic, while ensuring global trade and supply chains remain largely uninterrupted.
A G20 Action Plan set out key principles and commitments to drive forward international economic co-operation and has taken steps to support economic recovery and achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.
“While the global economy experienced a sharp contraction in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic activity has partially picked up as our economies gradually reopened and the positive impact of our significant policy actions started to materialise,” the G20 declared in a joint statement.
The global recovery remains uneven, highly uncertain and subject to elevated downside risks, including those arising from renewed virus outbreaks in some economies, with some countries reintroducing restrictive health measures, according to the communique.
“We underscore the urgent need to bring the spread of the virus under control, which is key to supporting global economic recovery,” the G20 stated. “We are determined to continue to use all available policy tools as long as required to safeguard people's lives, jobs and incomes, support the global economic recovery, and enhance the resilience of the financial system, while safeguarding against downside risks.”
Leaders of the group also commended Saudi’s 2020 presidency of the G20 “for initiating discussions on the need for long-term solutions to address gaps in global pandemic preparedness and response, including its proposal towards establishing access to pandemic tools.”
While the event was held virtually, it gave Saudi Arabia the opportunity to showcase its ambitious Vision 2030 plan, which dovetail with the G20’s own overarching plans of inclusive growth, sustainable development of resources and focus on new technologies to raise the living and health standards of all citizens. |
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