Two hours to save the world
•Saudi Arabia hosts ‘virtual’ summit of G20 leaders to confront global coronavirus crisis •Kingdom locks down Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, restricts movement, expands curfew
Saudi King Salman will host an extraordinary twohour “virtual” summit of leaders of the world’s most powerful countries on Thursday to find common ground in tackling the global coronavirus crisis.
As the G20 summit takes place, the Kingdom reported its second death from COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, and introduced new measures aimed at curbing its spread.
Entry to and exit from Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah is banned, the start of curfew in the three cities is brought forward from 7 p.m. to 3 p.m. and movement between all the Kingdom’s provinces is prohibited.
US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among world leaders taking part in Thursday’s summit. A communique will be published after it ends. The G20 is usually a once-a-year event, but two meetings were held in 2009 and 2010, at the height of the global financial crisis. It is a mark of how seriously leaders regard the virus threat that they have agreed to an “extraordinary” summit ahead of the formal scheduled gathering in Riyadh in November. The G20 comprises the 19 biggest national economies in the world, plus the EU. Spain, Jordan, Singapore and Switzerland will also take part in the meeting, and the UAE will be represented as chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The World Health Organization, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are among the international organizations that will take part, as well as other development organizations. So far in the economic response to the health emergency, governments around the world have spent an estimated $4.5 trillion on financial stimulus packages and economic assistance, the biggest being the $2 trillion in aid agreed by the US Congress this week. Tarek Fadlallah, the Dubai-based chief executive of Nomura Asset Management, told Arab News: “It may reassure markets if we have a coordinated approach to tackling this global epidemic.”
Former Lebanon economics minister turned independent economics analyst, Nasser Saidi, said: “This is a reaffirmation of the importance of concerted global efforts. In a global health crisis we need to cooperate and share resources.” Leading Riyadh-based foreign diplomats welcomed the lead taken by Saudi Arabia. “Thursday’s extraordinary G20 summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, is an important opportunity to discuss urgent and coordinated international fiscal action to protect the global economy,” British Ambassador Neil Crompton told Arab News.
Chinese Ambassador Chen Weiqing said: “China highly appreciates the wise and responsible attitude of Saudi leaders in calling for the first virtual extraordinary summit. “China is ready to work with Saudi Arabia and the international community to continue to address global public health security challenges and promote the common interests of mankind through the G20 mechanism and other platforms.”
Indian Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed said: “We are passing through an unprecedented crisis that requires extraordinary measures to be taken by governments across the world.”
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