His Excellency the Minister of Commerce, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the meeting of the Ministers of Trade and Investment of the G20, which was held today, Tuesday, 12 October 2021, in Sorrento, Italy. His Excellency stressed that the meeting during the year in which Italy presided over it, in 2021, is a continuation of the great efforts made to confront global challenges, explaining that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in hosting the G20, last year, contributed with the countries of the G20 in shaping the future of international trade and investment. This is done by preparing and approving a list of measures related to responding to the coronavirus pandemic to support international trade and investment. Whereas, the Italian presidency of the G20 sought to urge member states to continue working with these measures, and to update their own initiatives and commitments. His Excellency added that the Kingdom is a strong supporter of the reform of the World Trade Organization through the "Riyadh Initiative for the Future of the World Trade Organization", which was approved by the G20’s leaders at last year, and seeks to restore global growth and recovery, and encourages the Kingdom to build on the discussions that took place in this framework; and explained that the initiative provided an additional opportunity to discuss and reaffirm the basic objectives and principles of the multilateral trading system, and to demonstrate continued political support for the necessary reform of the World Trade Organization. Member states continued to build on the discussions that took place in the framework of the Riyadh Initiative for the Future of the World Trade Organization during the Italian presidency of the G20, stressing the importance of global cooperation to maintain an open and fair-trading system for all. Al-Qasabi stressed that the current conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic require strong and effective economic recovery from governments, and that they make services, investment and digital trade essential components of their responsive policies; The coronavirus has demonstrated that digital commerce is not only a necessity, but also a critical requirement for full participation in trade and the economy, especially for developing and least developed countries. He stated that the pandemic has exacerbated the challenges and obstacles facing micro, small and medium sized enterprises, and collective efforts should focus on helping these enterprises to recover from the pandemic by addressing disruption to production, supply chain, business networks, loan repayment and lack of capital to maintain or resume businesses. The Ministers of Trade and Investment of the G20, in their statement during the Italian Presidency of the Group, recalled the "Guiding Principles for the International Policies of the G20 on Enhancing the International Competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises", which were endorsed during the Saudi Arabian Kingdom's presidency of the G20 on 2020.