RIYADH: This is a G20 summit like no other. It is taking place virtually because of a pandemic that endangers lives and livelihoods, and has plunged the world into the deepest recession since the Second World War.
It is also the first time that Saudi Arabia is hosting the summit. The Kingdom is the only Arab member of the G20, and one of only three majority Muslim countries alongside Indonesia and Turkey.
The G20 represents the 19 most powerful economic countries plus the EU, representing 90 percent of global gross domestic product, more than 75 percent of trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population. When faced with the global financial crisis 12 years ago, the G20 demonstrated the importance of international cooperation at that level. Then, as now, the world economy stood on the brink of a major recession, with the financial system under threat of collapse.
This time the world faces a crisis that is greater in magnitude and deeper since it also affects the health and lives of the global population. The coronavirus pandemic again raises questions of how to guarantee financial stability, economic recovery and, most importantly, access to vaccines and medical support for all.
The theme of the Saudi presidency is “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All.” It was chosen wisely, because the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated inequalities between countries and among populations within countries. The virus knows neither boundaries nor borders.
An extraordinary summit in March played midwife to global stimulus packages equating to an injection of $11 trillion into the global economy. It also mobilized $21 billion to combat the pandemic. The G20 provided emergency support for the world’s poorest countries, including the debt service suspension initiative. A total of 73 countries were eligible and 46 have taken advantage of the assistance so far.
King Salman set the agenda for the G20 summit in his opening remarks, including fighting the pandemic, continued support for the global economy, assistance for developing countries, and laying the foundations for a robust, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The summit will discuss an extension of the debt service suspension. Private lenders also will be encouraged to take part in the initiative, which so far they have not done.
In the same vein, leaders will continue discussing stocking up the International Monetary Fund’s firepower by issuing an additional $500 billion in special drawing rights, or SDRs. During the financial crisis the IMF issued more than $270 billion in SDRs. Up to now most countries supported the issuance of SDRs, while the US failed to do so.
The Saudi presidency stands for ensuring that everyone has access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and that medications will be distributed equitably. The Kingdom has contributed $500 million to support the ACT accelerator and COVAX search for an effective vaccine for all countries. G20 leaders have been urged to plug the $4.5 billion hole required to produce and distribute the vaccines globally. In a pandemic preparedness and response side event, world leaders joined King Salman in emphasizing that global cooperation is needed to combat the virus as well as support from and of multilateral frameworks, namely the WHO.
Why the summit matters to the world: The pandemic has ravaged lives and livelihoods around the world. The world economy has been badly hurt and can only truly recover if the fight against the virus has been won.
The virus knows no borders. Therefore, we are not safe until everybody is safe, which is why it is so important to give all countries, even the poorest, access to vaccines and antiviral drugs.
To this end the G20 cooperation and support of multilateral frameworks is crucial. This is why the ACT accelerator and COVAX are an integral part of finding solutions to the pandemic.
This is where the debt relief program, which postpones interest and principal for the poorest countries, is very important, because they need to rebuild their economies and healthcare systems.
The virus has worsened inequalities; the poorest countries and poorest segments in the population are particularly affected by the pandemic. Women have been especially hard hit by the economic fallout, which again brings us back to the Saudi presidency placing particular emphasis on women assuming their rightful positions and standing in society.
Why the day mattered to GCC and KSA: Saudi Arabia has provided enlightened leadership to the G20 in a year of unprecedented challenges. From a global perspective, Arab and Muslim nations are holding leadership positions. They are part of the family of nations, which comes with responsibilities and privileges.
The Kingdom’s commitment to multilateralism is important at a time when many multilateral arrangements are under review/threat. This holds particularly true for the WHO and the World Trade Organization (WTO), where the Riyadh initiative for the future of the WTO will positively influence the future of the organization.
The GCC and Saudi Arabia stand at the crossroads between East and West. As oil-producing countries, they depend on a thriving global economy. The economy can recover only if we get a handle on the virus. Therefore, the focus of day one on pandemic preparedness and response was the right thing to do not only from a humanitarian standpoint, but also from an economic perspective.
G20 summit sets out to build a future for all
https://arab.news/w575m
G20 summit sets out to build a future for all
- King Salman set the agenda for the G20 summit in his opening remarks, including fighting the pandemic, continued support for the global economy, assistance for developing countries
Saudi Arabia’s FM announces landmark visit to Lebanon
- The one-day trip on Thursday will mark the first visit by a high-ranking Saudi official to Lebanon since 2015
- Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the potential formation of a new government but emphasized the need for real reforms
DAVOS: Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday in Davos he would visit Lebanon later this week, the first such trip by a Saudi foreign minister in more than a decade.
He made the announcement during a panel on diplomacy at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss resort town.
The one-day trip on Thursday will mark the first visit by a high-ranking Saudi official to Lebanon since 2015, after years of strained relations due to Lebanon’s perceived alignment with Iran, its role in drug smuggling to Gulf countries, and ongoing instability.
Prince Faisal described the recent election of a president in Lebanon, following a prolonged political vacuum, as a highly positive development.
He said the Kingdom welcomed the potential formation of a government but emphasized the need for real reforms and a forward-looking approach to ensure sustainable progress.
He reiterated that the future of Lebanon rested in the hands of its people, urging them to make decisions that steer the country in a new direction.
“We will need to see real action, real reform and we will need to see a commitment to a Lebanon that is looking to the future, not to the past,” said Prince Faisal.
“And based on what I hear there and what we see, I think that will inform the Kingdom’s approach, but I have to say what I’ve seen so far and the conversations that we’ve been hearing in Lebanon, all allow me to be very much optimistic.
“We’ve always said, it’s really up to the Lebanese to decide and to make the choices to take Lebanon in a different direction.”
Prince Faisal also said he is “cautiously optimistic” about Syria’s future, citing encouraging signs from the new administration in Damascus and the resilience of the Syrian people.
He emphasized the need for patience and engagement from both the regional and international communities to help rebuild the country’s broken institutions and create a better future for Syrians.
“I would certainly say I’m cautiously optimistic. I may even lean further because you have, first of all, an administration that is saying the right things in private and in public, doing a lot of the right things, but also you have a Syrian people that are incredibly capable and incredibly resourceful,” he said.
He urged collaboration to build on recent positive developments, underlining the collective responsibility to aid Syria’s recovery, especially considering the willingness of the new administration in Damascus to engage constructively with regional and global partners.
“The reality is that they have inherited a broken country with no real institutions and they are having to build all of that from scratch, and that’s not an easy thing,” he said.
“So it’s up to us, I feel in the region first but certainly the international community, to engage, to come and build on this positive development and help Syria and the Syrian people see a much better future.”
Prince Faisal highlighted the importance of lifting the heavy burden of sanctions imposed due to actions of the previous regime, noting some progress with waivers from the US and Europe.
Prince Faisal was also positive about the region as a whole, including the Kingdom.
“We are certainly in a region that is abundant with risk factors, but we are also in a region that has huge potential,” he told the panel.
“I would say that even with the very difficult year behind us, we have shown that we can be resilient as a region and we can actually look to the future, whether it’s the Kingdom, or the GCC countries, and their ability to stay on track with their economic agendas,” he added.
He stressed the importance of avoiding conflict, particularly in light of tensions between Iran and Israel, and expressed optimism regarding the new US administration under President Donald Trump.
“I don’t see the incoming US administration as contributory to the risk of war. On the contrary, I think President Trump has been quite clear that he does not favor conflict,” he said.
“I hope that the approach will also be met on the Iranian side by the addressing of the nuclear program, by being willing to engage with the incoming administration in a way that can help us stay on track with this positive momentum.”
Also on the panel was Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, who expressed hope that the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas would bring much needed relief to the Palestinian people.
“Let’s be hopeful (about the ceasefire). It’s still a long way to go with what happened throughout the last 15 months negotiating this very difficult conflict,” he said.
“It showed us that everything can be resolved through talks and through engagement, through negotiations, and we started this week with good news.
“We have seen the humanitarian aid coming in, we have seen hostages going back and we hope that this will be a fair system toward stability now.”
Saudi deputy minister meets newly appointed Bangladesh ambassador
- Al-Sati wished the ambassador success in his new role
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Saud Al-Sati met with the newly-appointed Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Kingdom Delwar Hossain in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Al-Sati wished the ambassador success in his new role, the Foreign Ministry posted on X.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for International Multilateral Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Rassi received Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom Anatolii Petrenko in Riyadh on Tuesday.
During the meeting they discussed bilateral relations and topics of common interest.
Saudi Shoura Council official receives Norwegian women’s rights ambassador
- The pair discussed bilateral cooperation and explored several topics of mutual interest
RIYADH: Hanan Al-Ahmadi, assistant speaker of the Saudi Shoura Council, emphasized the positive impact of the Kingdom’s reform agenda in a meeting with Sidsel Bleken, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ ambassador for women’s rights, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Al-Ahmadi, who provided an overview of the council’s legislative and oversight functions to the visiting diplomat, lauded the achievements of Saudi women across various sectors in the Kingdom.
The pair also discussed bilateral cooperation and explored several topics of mutual interest.
Unified database of official government policies on Arabic language launched
- Project aims to offer valuable resource for academics, policymakers
- Launch ceremony attended by distinguished experts from across region
RIYADH: A new unified database of official government policies on the Arabic language from 22 countries was launched on Monday.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman International Academy for the Arabic Language, in partnership with the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, launched the Language Policy System Project in Arab States at ALECSO’s headquarters in Tunis.
The system has gathered language policy data from 22 Arab states, aiming to provide a resource that enables decision-makers, researchers, scholars and experts to undertake strategic linguistic work.
The project was developed in coordination with the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science.
The launch ceremony attracted a broad range of linguistic experts, institutions and specialists in language planning.
It was also attended by representatives of Arab states in the organization and secretaries of national committees, with more than 50 attendees in total.
The collaboration between KSGAAL and ALECSO plays a key role in advancing initiatives to promote the Arabic language, safeguard its purity and underscore its profound cultural significance, according to Mahmoud Al-Mahmoud, head of the Planning and Language Policy Sector at KSGAAL.
A standout feature of the project is its compilation of more than 1,800 language policies from 22 Arab countries.
Furthermore, the project links these policies to various fields of language planning, greatly enhancing the overall value of the initiative, Al-Mahmoud added.
KSGAAL will provide access to the extensive dataset for researchers, enabling them to leverage the information in a wide range of studies focused on language planning across Arab countries, Al-Mahmoud told Arab News.
The project stems from the academy’s belief in the value of language planning, aiming to achieve its objectives through conducting and publishing studies and research, as well as issuing periodic reports on the state of the Arabic language and its indicators, Al-Mahmoud said.
“The project is distinguished by its strategic significance in influencing language decisions, internationally and regionally, as well as its leadership in terms of both scope and quality,” he added.
Saudi book club brings together readers and writers from around the globe
- Al Jalees Book Club was founded in 2014 and has a presence in Riyadh and Jeddah
- American poets, novelists and academics from the University of Iowa attended talk
RIYADH: Bookworms and aspiring writers alike were given space to explore their creative talent and learn from seasoned authors at Al Jalees Book Club’s “Writing Across Nations” dialogue session in Riyadh this week.
The club was founded in 2014 by Rana Hajjar, a Jeddah native who wanted to create a productive and welcoming community for local readers and writers.
“Al Jalees is my passion project, I started it because I wanted a space to fit in, a community that understands my interest,” she said.
Hajjar said that although the literary community has very much always been alive in Saudi Arabia, it was very difficult to find each other. So the main goal of the club was for her and others to feel less alone.
Al Jalees has an English department, run by Hajjar in Riyadh, and an Arabic department, run by her sister Rabab, in Jeddah.
Hosted in collaboration with the US Embassy, writers from a wide range of genres and diverse backgrounds were encouraged to attend the “Writing Across Nations” discussion to listen to and engage with American poets, novelists, and academics eager to share the toolkits they have developed to hone their craft.
According to Tom Sleigh, a poet, dramatist and essayist with 11 books of poetry in his arsenal, a common mistake up-and-coming writers commit is comparing their style with that of other authors and trying to live up to those standards, when true talent and audience intrigue comes from the uniqueness one offers in one’s work.
“The idiosyncrasy with which each person approaches their relationship to language meant that there was a kind of utterly unapologetic relationship to writing differently than each other,” he said.
Echoing Sleigh’s words, Cate Dicharry, director of the Writing and Humanities Program at the University of Iowa, said that although she has always been an avid reader, writing seemed unachievable, partly because many of the writers she admired had passed on, creating an enigmatic image of the published author that seemed impossible to emulate.
Dicharry also said that young, ambitious students are “reading really good work that is in its final form,” and getting very discouraged when their first drafts do not sound as advanced, creating a fearful cycle that dims potential rather than develops it.
Toxic comparisons aside, all panelists agreed that the key to becoming a great writer is to be a great reader.
Christpher Merril, director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, said that new writers will “fall in love” with a poet and begin imitating them, and if they are lucky enough, they will bore themselves and look for another poet to be encapsulated by.
“Bit by bit you fall in love with different poems (and poets) and then you find your way to writing your own poem,” he said.
In an interview with Arab News, Hajjar said that one non-fiction book everyone should read is “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers, a self-help book Hajjar uses to advocate for breast and ovarian cancer awareness and prevention.
The fiction book she recommends is “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck, a multi-generational novel that explores the struggle between good and evil through the interconnected lives of two families in California’s Salinas Valley.
Recalling his time covering the war in former Yugoslavia, in preparation for writing his book: “Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars”, Merril spoke about how writing first begins with observing, whether that means observing people’s behaviors or the settings around you.
“Part of your job as a writer is you are paying attention, you’re taking notes, and you’re trying to think: how is he doing that?”
Through writing comes understanding; even if situations seem unclear at first, write them down first and examine the chaos later, Merril said.
Responding to a question from Arab News, Merril said: “I am not going to imagine that I am writing from a place of knowledge about myself, I am writing from a place of vast ignorance, with the hope that some lights might go off along the way.”
Elizabeth Willis, professor of poetry at the University of Iowa, emphasized that writing fiction or other literary forms and understanding yourself as a person are both lifelong practices, so do not make your craft wait for you or it will be waiting forever.
Sleigh said that the quiet that comes with writing inadvertently gives you the space and freedom to work through matters in your own life, mirroring Merril’s “through writing comes understanding external concept internally.
Al Jalees hosts large events every month and over the years they have accumulated more than 120 speakers to join their sessions in over 700 events.
Moving Al Jalees online during the COVID pandemic helped open it up to the rest of the world
“When a book club turns into a culture club, turns into a club where everybody intellectual is all around it, it is a very positive impact for you, for your children, for your family, for your friends, and then you make friends through the thousands of people that you meet,” Hajjar said.
Readers and writers of all levels and backgrounds, as well as those simply interested in the community, are welcome to join their events, she said.
“Language is not just words; it is a lifestyle.”
Al Jalees hopes to expand its Jeddah-based Arabic chapter to Riyadh in the upcoming months, as well as to expand the English chapter to biweekly events.
