Amman, Nov. 18, (dpa/GNA) – Saudi Arabia hoped its presidency of the G20 would be the chance to showcase the new kingdom, which has seen several dramatic social and economic changes in recent years championed by the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Instead, the coronavirus pandemic, movement restrictions and the subsequent global recession derailed the plan.
Riyadh was forced to move almost all meetings since March onto online platforms, including the upcoming leaders’ summit, which will be chaired by King Salman, marking the final event under the kingdom’s presidency.
“The G20 meetings are not only about conducting the business of the G20, but also about showcasing the country itself,” Abdullah al-Hassan, Saudi G20 sous-sherpa and executive director of policy, said.
“We would love to have all the G20 delegates to come to experience the Saudi cuisine, to interact with the people,” he said, adding that some visited the country between December and March before global restrictions were introduced to curb the spread of coronavirus.
This is Saudi Arabia’s first time managing the presidency of the group, which brings together 19 countries and the European Union. As the only Arab country in the group, it has also been stressing that it is a representative of the region.
While lamenting that visitors will not experience the culture, nature and good November weather, the chairman of the Gulf Research Center, Abdulaziz Sager, says he believes there are still positive outcomes.
The G20 presidency has contributed to “repositioning Saudi Arabia globally, in terms of [being an] economic and social player and also moderate leader of Islamic world,” said Sager, who also heads a task force as part of the G20 on multilateralism and global governance.
Saudi Arabia said “the Saudi G20 presidency will be remembered as a leader for a better future,” calling it an “inclusive and bold” agenda focused on advancing coordinated policy options towards a resilient recovery and sustainable future.
Officials conducted meetings discussing the climate, the environment, trade and technology, among other topics.
In March, leaders conducted an extraordinary summit where they vowed to coordinate their response to the pandemic. Since then, they collectively injected 11 trillion dollars to mitigate the impact on the global economy.
Finance officials extended debt relief to low-income countries until the middle of next year and agreed on a common framework to restructure debt for countries that request it beyond that timeline.
At the summit, the leaders are expected to tackle an initiative advanced by Riyadh to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Saudi Commerce Minister Majed al-Qassabi said this week the initiative aims at agreeing on a road map for global trade to ensure flow of goods as some countries move towards protectionism.
An online summit means that a big part of the spectacle is missing: direct interactions and bilateral meetings. The Saudi crown prince was under the spotlight in the past two summits amid pressure from rights groups on the kingdom’s poor human rights records.
This year, rights groups tried to keep up the pressure by urging officials to boycott meetings.
The meeting is also overshadowed by Joe Biden’s victory in the US elections. In 2017, US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh on his first trip overseas, setting the stage for warm ties and a controversial alliance between his administration and the Saudi rulers.
“The most important element for Saudi Arabia to get out of the G20 is to maintain its connection to the rest of the world, which the election of the new president of the United States may have put into question,” said David Rundell, a former chief of mission at the US embassy in Riyadh.
King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed already congratulated Biden on his election win. It is yet to be seen if Biden’s policies would be different. Some groups, like Oxfam, hope he would stop arms sales to Riyadh, against the backdrop of an ongoing five-year war in Yemen.
Yet Rundell believes “the Biden administration and Mohammed bin Salman will find ways to overcome their problems and work together to promote the areas where they have common interest.”
GNA