Saudi Arabia's 2020 presidency of the G20 will be one of the most important in the group's history. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's 2020 presidency of the G20 will be one of the most important in the group's history. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's 2020 presidency of the G20 will be one of the most important in the group's history. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's 2020 presidency of the G20 will be one of the most important in the group's history. Reuters

The G20 summit is over - what happens next?


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The 2020 G20 summit concluded yesterday, bringing to a close one of the organisation’s most important meetings since its inception in 1999.

The mandate of the organisation is to promote global economic co-operation. With its members totalling 80 per cent of the world’s economic output, what it discusses in its annual, two-day summits matters.

It is no surprise that this year’s meeting focused on the pandemic and post-Covid-19 global economic recovery. But what does such a recovery really mean?

It not only entails scientific and medical progress, but the regeneration of economies, too. And not just high-income economies – the world will not be healed fully until all nations, rich or poor, are back on track.

For all of the club’s lofty ideals, however, even G20 member states are not immune to the cut-throat atmosphere brought about by the pandemic, in which nations jockey to protect their own citizens first. In response to this phenomenon, King Salman of Saudi Arabia stressed the urgent need to ensure vaccine distribution is “affordable and equitable for all people.”

A primary focus for Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency this year has been a comprehensive plan to support lower-income countries, ensuring the fair distribution of vaccines worldwide. Saudi Arabia is right to seek pledges from member states. Not doing so risks a free-for-all in which large economies hoard at the expense of smaller ones.

King Salman also said that the subject areas of the this year’s G20, Empowering People, Safeguarding the Planet, and Shaping New Frontiers, all play a role in overcoming the challenge posed by the virus.

These areas are particularly relevant when it comes to vaccines. Researchers at Duke University in the US have estimated that high and middle-income countries have already secured almost 4 billion vaccine doses. Canada has reportedly purchased enough stocks to immunise each of its citizens five times over.

Experts estimate this unequal concentration of stocks could prolong the virus’s grip on the global economy until 2024. According to the Rand Corporation, a think tank, unequal distribution of vaccine doses could cost the global economy $1.2 trillion a year.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, was right to call for more nations to join the COVAX programme started by Gavi, the global vaccine alliance. COVAX was conceived early in the pandemic with a specific focused on the just distribution of future Covid-19 jabs.

Even when much of the world is immunised, the legacy of mass unemployment may be slower to fade. Technology’s role in keeping the economy’s engines running during Covid-19 has accelerated the effects of a broader phenomenon, which is the growing tension between technological development and employment.

Without the internet, automation and artificial intelligence, the pandemic may have wrought a much heavier toll on us this year. They were saving graces at a time when everyone was shielding in their homes. But when millions of people return to daily life, they must not find that the tools that helped them at home have now replaced them entirely at the workplace.

Rather than the usual G20 leaders photo, Covid-19 restrictions required a digitally created image. AP
Rather than the usual G20 leaders photo, Covid-19 restrictions required a digitally created image. AP
The complexity of the task ahead reminds us that we need the spirit of multilateralism embodied by the G20

G20 leaders, and those of other nations, can avoid such a scenario by embracing the ideals of early tech, which sought to empower people and information sharing. By increasing skills and tech literacy, and extending opportunities to a greater share of the global workforce, a G20 blueprint for recovery can protect the human aspect of the global economy.

The complexity of the task ahead reminds us that we need the spirit of multilateralism embodied by the G20 and other such organisations. It also reminds us that going it alone is rarely a winning strategy for any nation in meeting today’s challenges. After all, a prosperous economy cannot maintain its health if it does not engage with smaller ones.

Over the months and years ahead, what ought to emerge from the discussions had at this year’s summit is a renewed vigour in the G20’s core ideal: powerful nations pursuing economic development for the interests of all.

While you're here
F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

Long Shot

Director: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogan

Four stars

UAE SQUAD

Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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