Leaders of the most powerful countries in the world willtoday come together in a "virtual" summit organized by the Saudi Arabia G20presidency to tackle the accelerating coronavirus crisis.
The two-hour digital forum will be opened by King Salman in Riyadh,but will take in all the world's great capitals in an unprecedented attempt toface the global challenge presented by the virus to health and economicwell-being.
An official statement said that King Salman would chair themeeting "to advance a coordinated global response to the COVID-19pandemic and its human and economic implications." He will also close theproceedings.
Among world leaders expected to participate in the meeting —which will be held behind closed doors as is customary with G20 plenarygatherings — are US President Donald Trump and Chinese President XiJinping, the world's two biggest economies. Russian President VladimirPutin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also take part.
A communique and press release will be published after itends. The "sherpas" — the officials who work behind the scenes to get agreementon the wording of the final document — are believed to have already hadpreliminary discussions.
The G20 is usually a once-a-year event, but two meetingswere held in each year of 2009 and 2010, at the height of the global financialcrisis. It is a mark of how seriously leaders regard the virus threat that theyhave agreed to an "extraordinary" summit ahead of the formal scheduledgathering in Riyadh in November.
A virtual halt to international air travel meant that aphysical meeting was impossible, and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications,working at short notice in partnership with US technology giant CISCO,rushed to put in place the technical logistics for the event.
The G20 is made up of the 19 biggest nationaleconomies in the world, with the EU taking the 20th slot. In addition, Spain —one of the worst virus-affected nations in Europe — will also take part in theRiyadh "virtual" summit, as well as Jordan, Singapore and Switzerland. The UAEwill be represented as chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The World Health Organization, the UN, the InternationalMonetary Fund and the World Bank are among the international organizations thatwill take part, as well as other development organizations.
