Chaired by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the work of the fifteenth session of the summit meetings of the leaders of the G20 countries (G20) began virtually today, Saturday 06 Rabi al-Akhir 1442 AH corresponding to November 21, 2020 CE.

At the beginning of the summit, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud delivered a speech as follows:

Your Majesties, Excellencies, Highnesses and the State,

Distinguished participants,

Peace, mercy and blessings of God:

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the Riyadh Summit, which is the second summit of this year, and we regret that we did not receive a reception in Riyadh due to the difficult circumstances that we all face this year. It gives us great pleasure to see you all today and thank you for participating.

This year has been an exceptional year, as the new Corona pandemic constituted an unprecedented shock that affected the whole world in a short period of time. Also, this pandemic has caused the world economic and social losses. Our peoples and economies still suffer from this shock, but we will do our utmost to overcome this crisis through international cooperation.

In our extraordinary summit last March, we pledged to mobilize urgent resources, and all of us contributed at the beginning of the crisis with more than twenty-one billion dollars to support global efforts to address this pandemic.

We have also taken exceptional measures to support our economies by pumping in more than eleven trillion dollars to support individuals and companies.

Social protection nets have also been expanded to protect groups at risk of losing their jobs and sources of income. And we have provided emergency support to developing countries. This includes the G20 initiative to suspend debt service payments for low-income countries.

Thus, it is our duty to rise together to the level of the challenge during this summit and to reassure our peoples and give them hope through adopting policies to confront this crisis.

Distinguished participants,

Our overall goal is to seize the opportunities of the twenty-first century for all. Although the Corona pandemic has prompted us to rapidly reorient our focus to address its effects, the main axes that we have placed under this general goal - empowering people, preserving the planet, and shaping new horizons - remain essential to surpassing this global challenge and shaping a future. The best for our people.

In the near future, we must address the vulnerabilities that emerged in this crisis, while working to protect lives and livelihoods.

We are encouraged by the progress made in finding vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools for Coronavirus, but we must work to create conditions that allow fair and affordable access to them to provide them to all peoples. At the same time, we must prepare better for future epidemics.

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 people.

And we must provide support to developing countries in a coordinated manner, to maintain the development progress made over the past decades.

In addition, laying the building blocks for strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.

We must work to provide opportunities for everyone, especially women and youth, to enhance their role in society and in the labor market, through education, training, job creation, support for entrepreneurs, enhancing financial inclusion and bridging digital divides between individuals.

And we must create the conditions to create a more sustainable economy. We have therefore promoted the circular carbon economy as an effective approach to achieving our climate change goals and ensuring cleaner, more sustainable and affordable energy systems.

We must lead the international community in preserving and protecting the environment.

In this context, we call for combating land degradation and preserving coral reefs and biodiversity, which gives a strong indication of our commitment to preserving the planet.

Realizing that trade is an essential engine for the recovery of our economies, we have endorsed the Riyadh initiative on the future of the World Trade Organization, with the aim of making the multilateral trading system more capable of meeting current and future challenges.

Distinguished participants,

The leaders of the G20 countries met for the first time twelve years ago in response to the financial crisis, and the results were the best testament to the fact that the G20 is the most prominent forum for international cooperation and to address global crises.

Today we are working together again to confront another, deeper global crisis that has afflicted people and the economy.

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.

Thank you.

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Details on the summit