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D.The Corona theme dominated the first day of the G-20 summit chaired by Saudi Arabia. “Our people and our economies are still suffering from this shock,” host King Salman said at the start of the two-day online conference in Riyadh on Saturday. Human rights activists have called for more pressure on the authoritarian government of the strictly Islamic kingdom.
The focus of the summit is on the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the associated global recession, but also on climate change. “We will do our best to overcome this crisis through international cooperation,” Salman said.
Among other things, the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO) had previously asked the summit participants to make more money available to fight the pandemic. WHO’s ACT Accelerator initiative, which aims to ensure the fair distribution of vaccinations and other coronavirus funds around the world, has a funding gap of $ 4.5 billion (€ 3.8 billion) .
G20 states could “save lives immediately” with additional funding, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, WHO Head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and others wrote in a joint letter to the meeting host.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has campaigned to support the international vaccine initiative Covax and to strengthen the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight against the Crown. “If we stick together around the world, we can control and overcome the virus and its consequences. It is also worth making a greater effort, ”the CDU politician said Saturday in a pre-recorded video message to the virtual summit of the main economic powers under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.
Merkel points against Donald Trump
A global challenge such as the crown pandemic could “only be overcome with a global effort,” said Merkel, who participated in the consultations at the chancellery in Berlin along with finance minister Olaf Scholz (SPD). The G 20 has a special responsibility here. Merkel’s remarks could also be understood as a point against US President Donald Trump, who supports an “America first” protectionist policy and is hostile to international organizations.
About a year after the outbreak of the corona pandemic, mass vaccinations against the pathogen are now within reach. However, many experts fear that rich countries will secure virtually all doses of the vaccine and that developing countries will lag behind.
In view of the pandemic, pressure on the G-20 countries increases to avert defaults in developing countries, for example by suspending debt service. Last week, the finance ministers of the G20 countries extended a debt suspension initiative until next June. However, UN Secretary General António Guterres and activists are calling for the initiative to be extended until the end of 2021.
In view of the much-criticized human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, activists organized a counter-summit at the Riyadh meeting. Relatives of opposition activists imprisoned in Saudi Arabia have called on representatives of participating states to exert more pressure on Saudi Arabia for violating human rights.
“Just a word about political prisoners – saying their names and making sure they are not forgotten – can save them,” said Lina al-Hathlul, sister of noted women’s rights activist Ludschain al-Hathlul. The latter is in prison for protesting the ban on driving women in Saudi Arabia, which has now been lifted, and has been on hunger strike since October 26.
Government circles in Berlin were told that the human rights issue would not be publicly discussed at the G20 summit, but only in bilateral talks.
The two-day conference program, chaired for the first time by an Arab country, included speeches by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump tweets about alleged election fraud
Outgoing US President Trump also attended the summit. However, he left the meeting early and went to one of his golf courses. After less than two hours on the video line of heads of state and government, Trump left the White House Saturday morning (local time) to travel to his golf club in the neighboring state of Virginia, reporters traveling with him said.
According to information from the German news agency, Trump was temporarily represented by Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin and his economic adviser Larry Kudlow. In previous G-20 summits, finance ministers replaced their leaders more often, for example when they held bilateral talks in parallel to meetings.
When Trump is in Washington on the weekend, he often takes day trips to his golf club in Sterling on the Potomac River. Trump wanted to participate in the G-20 video circuit again on Sunday according to the White House calendar.
Trump had spoken in the first hour of the summit with several tweets about alleged election fraud in the United States. During the first hour of the video session with the heads of state and government wrote Trump Saturday, among other things, of the “massive and unprecedented electoral fraud”. Twitter immediately warned the news that the allegations were “controversial”. Trump has so far provided no concrete evidence for his allegations and has already lost several trials on the matter.
Democrat Joe Biden was named election winner by the US media four days after the November 3 election. However, Republican Trump refuses to admit defeat. Biden is expected to be sworn in as the new president of the United States on January 20.
Trump wrote on Twitter, among other things, that his son Donald Trump Junior is “very well”. According to the media, this was infected with the corona virus. According to Friday, however, he is not expected to have any symptoms so far.
The two-day G-20 summit, hosted by host Saudi Arabia, concludes on Sunday. Together, the members of the G 20 represent over 85% of global economic output and two thirds of the world population.
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