President Jokowi to Join Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit on Covid-19

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 25 Maret 2020
Category: News
Read: 596 Views

President Jokowi attends the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is expected to join the Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit on Thursday, 26 March at 7 p.m. Western Indonesian Time to discuss the handling of Covid-19 and the economic and social impact of the pandemic as well as its consequence on the global supply chain.

The Summit will be chaired by King Salman of Saudi Arabia as the G20 Chairman. It is anticipated that the Summit will produce a Joint Statement on the pandemic.

Apart from the G20 Leaders, the meeting will also be joined by the UN, WHO, World Bank, and IMF.

The IMF has estimated that the impact of Covid-19 has the potential to be as bad as the 2008 global economic crisis. For this reason, the G20 meeting is very much awaited by the world to support financial stability and the world economy.

During the meeting, President Jokowi will also encourage global solidarity that requires joint and coordinated action, such as the importance of access to health equipment and vaccines.

For Indonesia and other developing countries, financial support in bilateral, regional or multilateral mechanisms globally needs to be supported by increased international cooperation in combating Covid-19 and all its economic and social impacts.

International trade and international cooperation are also key topics to ensure the smooth flow of goods and services, as well as strengthening global efforts in responding to Covid-19.

Earlier, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors have met virtually on Monday, 23 March. The meeting of G20 Sherpas was also held virtually on 25 March 2020.

At the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors virtual meeting, a stimulus package was discussed in the Covid-19 framework. In addition, international organizations such as the World Bank and IMF also agreed to issue funding assistance to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy.

In the G20 Sherpas meeting, Indonesia had expressed the need for the G20 to focus on supporting developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as the parties estimated to be most vulnerable to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The G20, formed in 1999, is the main forum for international economic cooperation with a strategic position to collectively represent 85% of world GDP, 75% of global trade and 2/3 of the world’s population. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs/EN)

 

 

Translated by: Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Reviewed by: Mia M. Bonaedy

Latest News