The Saudi G20 Presidency ends on 30 November 2020 while its Leaders’ Summit is held on 21-22 November 2020 in Riyadh. The Presidency hosted more than 100 meetings and conferences, including ministerial meetings, as well as meetings of officials and representatives from civil society.
Saudi Arabia hosts the G20 summit in a first for an Arab nation, with the downsized virtual forum dominated by efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and a crippling economic crisis.
World leaders are huddling virtually as international efforts intensify for a large-scale roll out of coronavirus vaccines after a breakthrough in trials, and as calls grow for G20 nations to plug funding shortfalls.
Amid a raging pandemic, the summit, which is usually an opportunity for one-on-one engagements between world leaders, is reduced to brief online sessions of what some observers call "digital diplomacy".
G20 nations have contributed more than $21 billion to combat the pandemic, which has infected 56 million people globally and left 1.3 million dead, and injected $11 trillion to "safeguard" the virus-battered world economy, organizers said.
The summit "will seek to strengthen international cooperation to support the global economic recovery," said Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan.
