Saudi Arabia is ‘accelerating reforms’ amid global standstill: Investment minister

Saudi Arabia is ‘accelerating reforms’ amid global standstill: Investment minister

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has been accelerating reforms and remained focused on the goals of Vision 2030 despite a global pandemic, Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih said on Saturday.“We were not distracted from our strategy and our Vision 2030. In fact, we doubled down on it. We accelerated our reforms. We continued to diversify our economy, and commit our resources to make sure that Vision 2030 is not derailed by (the coronavirus disease) COVID-19,” he said.His comments come as the Kingdom's leadership of the G20 concludes over the weekend in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has shown resilience amid the global threats of COVID-19, Al-Falih said, acknowledging the distinctiveness of its presidency of the G20.The minister said the annual summit was called on to do something which had never been done. “The G20 and its presidency has been called on to save the world, and to mitigate the effects of the crises,” he added.Al-Falih said the Kingdom stepped up to the challenge, guided by its belief in multilateralism — that “global problems require global solutions.”Building local resilienceIn order to perform its role, Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia had to build resilience locally.“Resilience at home, on all fronts, was an essential element for us to