An exceptional year, an exceptional response

It is not the first time that the youth of my country have excelled. They proudly earn our trust on all occasions, but this year the challenge facing them was exceptional because of the pandemic and the widespread disruption caused to people’s priorities around the world.

In the face of a pandemic that no one knows precisely how to confront, Saudi Arabia found itself faced with the responsibility of leading the world’s 20 most powerful economies at the G20 leaders summit.

At a time when countries and societies retreated into lockdown in the face of the pandemic, the leadership of my country realized that its duty is to lead the world by courageously confronting an exceptional challenge and hastened to launch many initiatives under the slogan “Seizing the opportunities of the 21st century for all.”

Young people in my country are overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude to King Salman and to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for giving them confidence and support to work toward a stronger, more durable and sustainable world.

The Kingdom focused on summoning G20 countries to meet the challenge. At the beginning of the pandemic G20 nations courageously pledged more than $21 billion to meet immediate financing needs, with plans to pump more than $11 trillion into the global economy to support companies and protect livelihoods, expand social protection networks, protect those at risk of losing their jobs and sources of income, provide emergency support, and deliver more than $14 billion to relieve the debt burden on the most vulnerable countries, in addition to providing more than $300 billion through development banks, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Young people in my country, as they bid farewell to this exceptional event, are overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude to King Salman and to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for giving them confidence and support to work toward a stronger, more durable and sustainable world.