Saudi Arabia Hosted G-20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting from Riyadh; India Proposed G20 principles on cross border movement

On September 3, 2020, as a part of Sherpa Track for the G20 Leaders Summit 2020, which will be held at the end of 2020, the current chair of G20 (group of twenty) i.e. Saudi Arabia hosted the virtual G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting from Riyadh (Capital of Saudi Arabia) which was focused upon cross-border movement and strengthening international cooperation across borders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The meet was chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud where Indian side was represented by Union Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

 Proposals by India:

–During the meet, India proposed the development of voluntary “G-20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People” with three elements: 

• Standardisation of testing procedures and universal acceptability of test results 
• Standardisation of ‘Quarantine procedures’
• Standardisation of ‘movement and transit’ protocols

–India also called for protecting interests of foreign students and to facilitate movement of stranded seafarers back to their home country in wake of COVID-19. 

Point to be noted:

India initiated the Vande Bharat Mission and created travel bubbles for the welfare and protection of foreign citizens stranded here as well as its own citizens abroad.

Recent Related News:

As a part of the Finance Track for the G20 Leaders Summit 2020, the 3rd G20 (Group of Twenty) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting was held virtually on July 18, 2020. It was organized under the Saudi Arabian Presidency where Indian side was represented by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. The objective of the meet was to discuss the global economic outlook amid evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020.

About G-20 or Group of Twenty:

Composition– 19 countries and the European Union (EU)

The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,

Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

2020 Presidency– Saudi Arabia
2020 theme– Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century For All
Chairman– Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2020)