RIYADH: Continuity is important for Saudi Arabia as it prepares for the G20 summit, the dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) said.

The Kingdom last December assumed the presidency of the 2020 G20 summit, making it the first Arab nation to do so, and the summit will be held in Riyadh in November.

Naoyuki Yoshino, from the ADBI, chaired the G20’s “ideas bank” Think20 (T20) during Japan’s G20 presidency in 2019 and spoke about the transfer of knowledge to Saudi Arabia as it prepares for the world’s leading international economic forum.

Each host country selects task forces for the T20 to ensure continuity on policy recommendations.

“It’s important for Saudi Arabia to choose the topics which Saudi Arabia is facing and coordinate with other nations,” he told Arab News. “After we met in November of last year, I reiterated the importance of new topics and the succeeding of topics to ensure continuity. The co-chair of each task force is also very important as they can summarize each topic.

“We cannot exclude various topics but rather include them selectively, that will be the key for the success of the co-chairs. The Saudis have been preparing their task forces since our November 2019 meeting.

“They’ve selected the right people who will be engaged with the right topic. An example would be we in Japan added the aging population and its economic impact task force as it is a topic of concern to us and many Asian countries.

“It’s a lesson for the next chair to learn from, as your country is young and with the change in demographic, the task force is a good topic to look into from both sides,” he added.