Faizel Patel – 15/10/2020
The Saudi Arabian ambassador to South Africa, Sultan al Angari has thanked South Africa and all other countries for it’s participation in the G20 summit which begins in November.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is hosting the G20 leaders’ summit virtually from 21-22 of November under the theme “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century For All”.
The G20 presidency is expected to build on the success of the extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit held in March, and on the outcomes of over 100 virtual working groups and ministerial meetings.
The meeting will be chaired by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and will focus on “protecting lives and restoring growth, by addressing vulnerabilities uncovered during the Coronavirus pandemic and by laying down the foundations for a better future.
Speaking to Radio Islam, Ambassador Al Angari says it’s an honour for Saudi Arabia to be hosting the G20 leaders summit.
“It was a stressful year for all of us. But we have been working together with all the G20 members to combat this virus.
Ambassador Al Angari says King Salman has called for an extra-ordinary G20 summit.
“A lot of initiative had been done by the government of Saudi Arabia when the custodian of the two holy mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz called for an extraordinary summit in March 2020. The Saudi government pledged $ 500 million to support, confront and combatting this pandemic.”
The G20 countries have also agreed to extend debt suspensions for poor countries which were particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic for a further six months; The debt freeze could be extended beyond June 2021, until the end of next year.
The G20 has also contributed over $21 billion to support the production, distribution, and access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines inclusing injecting $11 trillion to safeguard the global economy.
The G20 is made up of the European Union and 19 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.
Listen to the interview with Ambassador Sultan Al Angari
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