Sorrento, Italy, Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, who is also Chairman of the Board of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, headed his country’s delegation to the Ministerial Meeting of G20 Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG), held today in the Italian city of Sorrento.
The Minister of Commerce said that the meeting during the year of the Italian presidency 2021 is a continuation of the great efforts exerted to confront global challenges, explaining that Saudi Arabia, in its hosting of G20 last year, contributed with G20 countries in shaping the future of international trade and investment by preparing and adopting a list of measures related to responding to the coronavirus pandemic to support international trade and investment, as Italy’s G20 Presidency worked on urging member states to continue working with these measures and update their own initiatives and commitments.
Dr. Al-Qasabi stressed that Saudi Arabia is a strong supporter of reforming World Trade Organization (WTO) through the “Riyadh Initiative for the WTO’s Future, which was approved by G20 leaders last year, as it seeks to restore global growth and recovery and encourages to build on the discussions that took place in this framework.
Dr. Al-Qasabi explained that that the initiative allowed an additional opportunity to discuss and reaffirm the basic objectives and principles of the multilateral trading system and demonstrate continued political support for WTO’s necessary reform.
Dr. Al-Qasabi concluded that the current conditions of the (Covid-19) pandemic require strong and effective economic recovery from governments, through making services, investment and digital trade as essential elements of their responsive policies, as the coronavirus has shown that digital trade is not only a necessity, but also a critical requirement for full participation in trade and economy, especially for developing and least developed countries.
Source: Saudi Press Agency