JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia will continue supporting the stability and balance of oil markets, and it also backs efforts to supply clean energy to the world, said King Salman on Saturday.
The king, who was remotely addressing the G20 summit, said the global economy “still suffers from the COVID-19 pandemic” and that “low-income countries are still struggling to provide vaccines” for their populations.
He called for more sustainable and comprehensive solutions to fight climate change. King Salman said the Kingdom “looks forward to increased multilateral cooperation to achieve global prosperity.”
Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies endorsed on Saturday a global minimum tax aimed at stopping big business from hiding profits in tax havens, and also agreed to get more COVID vaccines to poorer nations.
Attending their first in-person summit in two years, G20 leaders broadly backed calls to extend debt relief for impoverished countries and pledged to vaccinate 70 percent of the world’s population against COVID-19 by mid-2022.
However, with a crucial UN climate conference due to start in just two days, the G20 appeared to be struggling to throw its weight behind the sort of strong new measures that scientists say are needed to avert calamitous global warming.
Underscoring the way the coronavirus crisis has up-ended the world, doctors in white coats and Red Cross workers joined the leaders for their traditional “family” photograph — a tribute to the sacrifices and efforts of medics across the globe.
Addressing the opening of the meeting, being held in a steel and glass convention center, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said governments had to work together to face up to the formidable challenges facing their peoples.
“From the pandemic to climate change, to fair and equitable taxation, going it alone is simply not an option,” Draghi said.
The corporate tax deal was hailed as evidence of renewed multilateral coordination, with major corporations facing a minimum 15 percent tax wherever they operate from 2023 to prevent them from shielding their profits in off-shore entities.
“This is more than just a tax deal — it’s diplomacy reshaping our global economy and delivering for our people,” US President Joe Biden wrote on Twitter.
G20 heads of state arrived on Saturday morning at Rome’s futuristic convention center known as the Nuvola, a southern Rome district built by Benito Mussolini.
Tempers could easily have frayed: Ahead of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron had seriously fallen out with the US over a submarine deal, while tensions were escalating with the UK over fishing rights. But Britain’s Boris Johnson gave Macron a mock-combative fist pump as he showed up — late — for the group picture.
The Briton kept it informal with US President Joe Biden too, quipping “Hey Joe!” as he took his place.
A White House official said the US and France had patched things up with the administration expecting future conversations to be ‘exciting and engaging.’
