President Xi Jinping Attends Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit and Delivers Important Remarks

On the evening of March 26, President Xi Jinping attended the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit on COVID-19 in Beijing and delivered a speech entitled, “Working Together to Defeat the COVID-19 Outbreak.”

Xi stressed that as COVID-19 is spreading across the world, it is imperative for the international community to strengthen confidence, act with unity, and work together to formulate a collective response so that humanity as one can win the battle against such a major infectious virus. Guided by the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, China will be more than ready to provide assistance where it can to other countries and contribute to a stable world economy.

The summit was chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al

Saud of Saudi Arabia, who holds the G20 presidency this year. It was attended by leaders of G20 member states and some invited countries and heads of the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank as well as some other international organizations.

All parties shared a common view that the fast spreading of COVID-19 has not only seriously undermined global public health security but also brought about enormous setbacks in economic, financial, and political terms. It is imperative to take prompt, coordinated, and robust action to effectively stem the spread of the virus, strengthen joint research and development of drugs and vaccines, enhance the treatment of those affected, and protect the lives and health of people. They called for effective fiscal and monetary policies to keep global supply chains safe and stable, maintain global financial stability, spur an early recovery of the world economy, and minimize the economic and social damage caused by COVID-19. All parties expressed support for the leading role of the WHO and committed to helping developing countries and vulnerable groups enhance preparedness and response capacity.

The summit released a statement on COVID-19.

The summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia via video link, was aimed at promoting global cooperation on fighting the epidemic and stabilizing the world economy.