Minister of Commerce, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, and his accompanying delegation, participated in the ministerial meeting of Trade, Investment and Industry Working Group of the G-20, which was held recently in the Indonesian city of Bali. Dr. Al-Qasabi stressed that the meeting during the year of the Indonesian presidency is a continuation of the efforts made to confront global challenges in shaping the future of trade and investment and the G-20 member states' response to global crises by discussing solutions to support the necessary reforms of the World Trade Organization in light of the outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization. He also stressed the importance of the contribution of the multilateral trade systems in promoting the achievement of sustainable development goals, and stimulating sustainable and inclusive investments in all clean and low-emission technologies, including renewable energy, to accelerate economic recovery. The meeting also discussed the roles that the G20 countries can adopt to ensure members' ability to benefit from digital trade and the integration of small and medium enterprises into global value chains. The member states confirmed their continued support for the Kingdom's outputs during its presidency of the G20 for its contribution to responding to the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic on trade and investment through short and long-term measures to support international trade and investment. This is in addition to discussing opportunities to enable digital transformations for inclusive and sustainable industrialization and exploring ways to support micro, small and medium enterprises to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. On the sidelines of the meeting, Dr. Al-Qasabi held bilateral meetings with the Indonesian Minister of Commerce Dr. Zulkifli Hasan, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the South African Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel, New Zealand Minister of Trade and Export Growth Damian O'Connor, Minister of Trade and Industry in Singapore Jan Kim Young, and South Korean Trade Minister Dr. Ahn Duk-geun. He also met the Executive Vice President of the European Commission responsible for trade Valdis Dombrovskis, Turkish Deputy Minister of Trade Dr. Mustafa Tuzcu, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vladimir Ilichev, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for Argentine International Economic Relations Cecilia Todesca Bocco. During these meetings, the development of relations and the strengthening of economic cooperation were discussed. Dr. Al-Qasabi explained the importance of the group's focus on examining the roles that the G20 countries can adopt to ensure the ability to benefit from digital trade and the integration of small and medium enterprises into global value chains This is in addition to the fact that the Kingdom supports efforts that seek to take advantage of opportunities to enable digital transformations in addition to its support for micro, small and medium enterprises to adopt modern technologies to support inclusive and sustainable industrialization. The Saudi-Indonesian Business Council and the business forum covered a session with the participation of Saudi and Indonesian companies in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. — SPA
