Minister of Commerce Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi affirmed that the G20 Leaders Summit held in Italy focuses on completing the successes and the road map set by Saudi Arabia to restore economic growth and global recovery through its leadership last year and its work with the G20 to confront the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 and its broad implications for the global economy. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency on the occasion of the Kingdom's participation in the G20 Leaders Summit in Italy, he said, "In continuation of the achievements made during the Kingdom's presidency of the G20 2020, the ministers of trade and investment based their ministerial statement during the Italian presidency of the G20 on Riyadh Initiative for the Future of the World Trade Organization approved by the leaders of the G20 last year. "The Initiative is based on defining common ground of the basic objectives and principles of the multilateral trading system and discussing the reform of the World Trade Organization, and the role of the organization in restoring growth and promoting economic recovery and limiting the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on international trade and investment, stressing the importance of global cooperation to maintain an open and fair trading system for all." Dr. Al-Qasabi stressed that the current conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic require strong and effective economic recovery from governments, and that they make services, investment and digital trade essential elements in their responsive policies, as the pandemic has shown that digital trade is not only a necessity, but rather a critical requirement for full participation in trade and economy especially for developing and least developed countries. He indicated that the pandemic has exacerbated the challenges and obstacles facing micro, small and medium enterprises, and collective efforts must focus on helping these enterprises to recover from the pandemic by addressing disruptions to production, supply chain, business networks, loan repayment and lack of capital to maintain or resume businesses. It is noteworthy that the G20 countries, during the presidency of the Kingdom last year, took immediate measures to reduce the disruption in trade and global supply chains and restore confidence and trade continuity by developing long and short-term measures to support the response and reduce the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. — SPA
