On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Investment Eng.Khalid Al-Falih received the closing statement of the (G20) group. Al-Falih delivered the speech of King Salman on this occasion, the text of which follows:

Your Highnesses, Excellences and Highnes, Honorable Audience, May God bless your time with all good.

First of all, I would like to thank G20 and its partners from all over the world for their efforts during this exceptional period.

We were looking forward to hosting you in the Kingdom, and for us to have the opportunity to welcome you as guests and friends, to enjoy its varied historical and cultural heritage, and to witness this historical economic and social transformation achieved by our country. However, the Corona pandemic did not allow us to.

During this year, the Presidency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of the G20 was keen to listen to your various recommendations through the Ministerial meetings and the working groups of the G20 to which you were invited.

The general objective of the Kingdom’s presidency of the G20 is to “seize the opportunities of the twenty-first century for all.” The presidency in its current session
focused on three main axes, namely: empowering people- especially women and youth - through creating conditions that enable them to live decent, work and
prosper, and preserve Planet Earth by promoting joint efforts to protect global resources, as well as shaping new frontiers by adopting bold, long-term strategies to share the benefits of innovation and technological advancement.

During its presidency of the G20 this year, the Kingdom focused on discussing the human, social and economic repercussions of the Corona pandemic, by uniting international efforts to save lives, secure the response of health systems and protect the economy.

To achieve these goals, the G20 committed itself to closing the financing gap in global health, as it contributed $ 21 billion to support the production, distribution, and availability of diagnostic and treatment tools, medicines and vaccines for all.
The group also committed to strengthening the coordination framework to combat the pandemic at theinternational level to include protection of front line
health workers and the delivery of medical supplies and food.

It has pumped nearly $ 11 trillion so far to protect the global economy, with a clear commitment and determination to do “whatever it takes” to overcome the effects of this pandemic.

The G20 has prioritized the poorest countries through a historic initiative to suspend debt payments worth US $ 14 billion. This initiative provided waivers to 73 eligible countries.

Dear audience, As for the structural issues facing our economy, we cannot talk about “forming new horizons” in the G20 without discussing innovative solutions that contribute to developing the financial infrastructure, improving global trade systems, protecting the private sector, and supporting restoring capital flows to emerging markets. And making use of digital economy tools that help to reach the desired financial inclusiveness during different circumstances.

The group was also keen to intensify efforts to keep pace with the changing nature of education and work and to provide opportunities for young people to build a promising and solid economic future and to strengthen social protection systems.

From the perspective of investment, business and trade, this pandemic has led to disruptions in supply and supply chains and an almost complete halt in sectors such as tourism, as well as widespread disruptions in global markets. Accordingly, the G20 discussed best practices to support the recovery of international trade, stimulate economic diversification, and promote international investment, in addition to supporting the international competitiveness of MSMEs.

The group also undertook important work to support the reforms of the World Trade Organization that were presented
to it by the Kingdom’s presidency of the G20 by agreeing on the “Riyadh Initiative” for the future of the World Trade Organization.

The G20 also attached great importance to discussing policies related to developing the highest standards of transparency and integrity in all fields, as it agreed on several initiatives during the final statement of the anti-corruption ministers, which is “Riyadh’s initiative to strengthen international cooperation in law enforcement for the authorities concerned with combating corruption.”

Honorable Audience, I would like to emphasize that many of the G20 group priorities represent common priorities with the current transformations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through te Kingdom’s Vision 2030, hich represents our road map for the future of our country.

Your group has focused on the empowerment axis, and one aspect of this empowerment is the Kingdom’s interest in the digital economy. With the world shifting to remote work, distance education, and even remote medical services, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proactive and advanced in that.

We have also realized in the Kingdom that “economic empowerment of youth and women” is one of the priorities of the G20 policies and is central to realizing the full potential of our national economy. We have undertaken wide-ranging reforms to empower women at home and at work, including entrepreneurship programs and specifically the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender in access to financial services, which makes the Kingdom one of only three countries in the world to implement this.

And since among the priorities of the G20 and the business group is"protecting our planet” - an important goal that we cannot overlook and we must invest in in the future - it is also a goal that the Kingdom has taken initiative to achieve by creating programs and projects in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency development, in addition to the circular economy initiative of carbon, the planned “green hydrogen” project in NEOM, and the environmental protection and sustainability methods used by the Red Sea Development Company, to name a few.

Honorable Audience, Although we have faced exceptional challenges, the pandemic has demonstrated that the Saudi economy is resilient and solid, and that we are determined to enhance levels of growth and prosperity through empowerment and investment in new sectors, especially those sectors that will lead the global recovery and protect countries from epidemics in the future.

I would like to congratulate the leadership of the group and its members, especially your proactive recommendations in light of the anticipations of a second wave of the epidemic and the attention you have paid in the most pressing issues in the global economy.

In conclusion, I look forward to receiving the report and recommendations of the G-20 group, and also look forward to continuing to work together to achieve the opportunities of the twenty-first century for all.