Nagoya
Saudi Arabia is set to take over the G20 presidency for a year, as announced during a foreign ministers meeting on Saturday. The kingdom’s new foreign minister, a prince with diplomatic experience in the West, landed in Japan’s Nagoya city on Friday to meet with his counterparts from the Group of 20 nations.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud was appointed in October in a partial cabinet reshuffle, joining a new generation of royals in their 40s who rose to power under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 34, the de facto ruler of the world’s top oil exporter.
King Salman has hailed the Kingdom’s G20 presidency as proof of its key role in the global economy.
Saudi Arabia will reveal the details of their G20 Presidency program on Dec. 1, 2019. The program seeks to support innovation globally, achieve prosperity, empower the people of the world and conserve the earth, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Prince Faisal will pick up the baton at a ceremony on Saturday in Nagoya, where G20 foreign ministers have gathered for talks.
Japan — which headed the G20 this year — was the kingdom’s second-largest export market last year, at $33 billion, according to IMF trade data. Apart from its reliance on Saudi oil, Japan has deepened its ties to the kingdom thanks to Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group. Riyadh has been a big supporter of SoftBank’s massive Vision Fund.
