
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday join a virtual summit of G-20 leaders, organised to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, which will be chaired by Saudi King Salman.
Modi tweeted on Wednesday, “The #G20 has an important global role to play in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to productive discussions tomorrow at the #G20VirtualSummit, being coordinated by the Saudi G20 Presidency.”
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will chair the virtual summit on March 26 to advance the global coordinated response to the pandemic. Apart from the leaders of G-20, the heads of state of Jordan, Spain, Singapore and Switzerland are also scheduled to participate. The UAE will also take part in its capacity as sitting president of the Gulf Cooperation Council states.
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In a separate video conference earlier this week, G-20 finance ministers and central bankers agreed to develop an action plan to respond to the outbreak, which the IMF expects will trigger a global recession.
A video conference of senior health professionals of SAARC countries to share their experiences of combating the spread of COVID-19 is also proposed to be held on March 26. The major topics of discussion will be “practical joint action on online training capsules for emergency response teams, setting up of an Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal, creation of a Common Research Platform and coordination of research…”
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