MD RASOOLDEEEN | ARAB NEWS
RIYADH: The third G20 Speakers' Consultation Meeting scheduled to be held in Riyadh on Saturday will be a major milestone in establishing joint parliamentary work among the G20 nations, Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh said in Riyadh Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia will host the meeting this year. The theme for the consultation meeting will be “sustainable economic growth for a safe world.”
The Shoura chairman will host a dinner for foreign and local delegates on Friday at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, which will be the venue of the conference. The welcome address also will be made by Al-Asheikh.
“Under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, the Kingdom is keen on supporting every international assembly that can achieve stability in the global economy and realize a balanced and sustainable growth through the joint efforts of all nations,” Al-Asheikh told reporters at a press conference held at the Ritz Carlton.
Al-Asheikh explained that healthy economic growth and integration among countries can strengthen global security and stability and would lead to the realization of progress and prosperity for present and future generations.
The chairman added the meeting gathered further momentum due to the exceptionally turbulent circumstances sweeping the world on all political, economic and social levels.
“There should be concerted efforts to activate parliamentary diplomacy to complement and support government endeavors to realize global peace and security,” the chairman stressed.
Besides promoting parliamentary friendship committees in cementing ties with many foreign parliaments, including those of the G20 member countries, he underlined the pivotal role of the Shoura Council in supporting international cooperation through its contribution to the shaping of the state’s general policy, ratification of international conventions and active participation in foreign parliamentary events.
He also highlighted the role of the council in supporting the government’s international cooperation programs and policies for comprehensive and sustainable development.
The two-day event is to discuss a wide range of topics, with priority given to economic issues such as the financial crisis and its repercussions for global economic stability. Other topics would include the role of energy in sustainable development and global cultural dialogue, among others.
Dialogue among people and nations is a mechanism for finding common grounds and understanding to reach common goals, he said, adding that the council gave the green light on Monday for the establishment of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna.
“The dialogue proposition is gaining increasing support from world’s peoples and governments, which was epitomized by universal support at the Madrid Convention and United Nations’ forum in New York,” said Al-Asheikh.
The topics that will be taken up at the session include interfaith and intercultural dialogue, significance of institutionalizing such a dialogue for the international community, dissemination of a culture of dialogue and its utilization to promote harmony among people and reducing tension and strife in the international community.
The Group of Twenty was established on the sidelines of the Group of Eight’s meeting in September 1999 in Washington. The G8 consisted of the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and the Russian Federation.
The G20 was founded on the grounds that there was need for a wider international bloc to deal with global economic challenges, strengthening international financial stability and facilitating international dialogue and cooperation toward sustainable global development.
Accordingly, countries with outstanding economic wealth were added including China, India, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Turkey, Indonesia and the European Union. The forthcoming meeting to be hosted by the Kingdom is the third of its kind. The first meeting, held in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, in 2010, focused on means of strengthening the role of parliamentary diplomacy to realize food security for all world nations.
The second meeting took place in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea, where delegates discussed economic development strategies based on the expertise of developed nations, international cooperation for common growth, food security in light of the global financial crisis — and the supporting role of parliaments — in addition to the strategy for international parliamentary cooperation to fight terrorism and maintain peace.
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