RIYADH: Hosting the G20 Leaders’ Summit reflects the Kingdom’s pivotal role regionally and internationally, and is an opportunity to represent the Middle East and North Africa region and developing countries, according to Saudi Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi.

“The G20 summit hosted by Riyadh in November is a historical summit on the international level and the first of its kind in the Arab world, where the G20 member countries represent two-thirds of the world’s population, 85 percent of the global economy and 75 percent of the world’s trade,” Al-Rajhi said.

The summit was an opportunity to share the Saudi Vision 2030 with the rest of the world, given the consistency of the vision’s development plans with the G20’s objectives, especially those related to achieving macroeconomic stability and sustainable development, promoting the movement of trade and investment and empowering women, he said.

The Kingdom’s presidency focuses on three main themes: Empowering people by creating the conditions in which everyone — especially women and youth — can live, work and thrive; safeguarding the planet by promoting collective efforts to protect food and water security, the climate, energy and environment; and shaping new horizons by adopting long-term and bold strategies to share the benefits of innovation and technological advancement.

“During its G20 presidency, Saudi Arabia is committed to ensuring the G20 continues to reflect a broad and inclusive range of international perspectives and has therefore extended invitations to the UAE, Jordan, Vietnam, South Africa, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Singapore and other countries to be involved in the largest international economic groupings,” Al-Rajhi said.

He added that the G20 meetings under the Kingdom’s presidency had tackled several issues including youth unemployment, especially for those with no access to education, training or employment.

The meetings discussed the reduction of youth unemployment — especially those at risk of social exclusion — by 15 percent by 2025, as agreed by the G20 members states during the summit held by Turkey in 2015.

Al-Rajhi said: “The meetings have also discussed the impacts of COVID-19 on the labor markets and the need to develop and implement efficient and comprehensive measures to mitigate the impacts on our societies and local and international market labors.”

He added that the L20 Workers Communication Group in the G20 represents the voice of workers, where the protection and safety of workers was among its priorities.

It has invited the G20’s Employment Working Group (EWG) to promote and support staffing issues.

The L20 Workers Communication Group summit stressed the commitment of the Kingdom to preserve the accomplishments achieved during the previous presidencies, he said, and achieve significant progress in empowering women and youth and increasing their participation in the labor market.

Saudi Arabia has also focused on addressing the challenges of women's empowerment through initiatives targeting less-favored groups, and taking measures that served the interests of women and youth by supporting initiatives such as “Enabling and Supporting the Economic Representation of Women.”

Al-Rajhi shed light on the measures elaborated in the final statement of the G20 labor ministers: Supporting employees and entrepreneurs during this period, ensuring the support of workers, families, facilities and societies to recover and thrive in an inclusive and equitable manner, improving the conditions of vulnerable groups, and making sure the recovery process does not exacerbates injustices and gender inequalities.

The Kingdom’s presidency focused on supporting and serving the interests of peoples of G20 member states, he said, quoting King Salman: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to adopt a vital environment to elaborate initiatives that achieve the hopes of peoples around the world.”

Al-Rajhi added: “The issue of youth and women employment dominated the agenda of the L20 Workers Communication Group meetings, as it is a top priority for the group.

“Discussions covered preparing young men and women between 15 and 29 years old to enter the labor market, as well as developing reports to measure the progress made on the Antalya objective and providing the Youth Road Map 2025, in line with the states’ national conditions to improve the horizons of labor market for women and youth and seize the opportunities for all.”