Hala Tashkandi

RIYADH: The media committee of the G20 Summit held its introductory press conference on Sunday afternoon at the headquarters of the Saudi Press Agency in Riyadh.

Both local and foreign media were invited to view the year’s schedule of events, ask the media committee questions and understand the objectives of the summit.

“Thanks to the direction of King Salman and constant support from the crown prince, the Kingdom has prepared a full schedule that will guarantee the success of this historic event,” said Minister of Media Turki Al-Shabanah.

He talked about the facilities that would be made available to the members of the press throughout the year, including an international media center that would serve as the central hub for all media activities in the summit.

“The media committee has prepared a full strategic plan to provide members of both foreign and local press with all of the resources they will need to cover the G20. There will be coverage of over 135 meetings and conferences, to which end we will be creating an international media center that can accommodate up to 10,000 journalists,” he said.

He added that media facilities would be available to accredited journalists and in multiple languages for journalists across the world.

Fahd Al-Mubarak, minister of state and Saudi Arabia’s G20 sherpa, said: “Having such a large number of media professionals really underscores the importance of the role the Kingdom plays in leading the 2020 G20 Summit.”

Al-Mubarak highlighted some of the challenges the summit was facing this year, notably the coronavirus, which he said that they were actively discussing and trying to overcome.

Fahd Al-Tunisi, adviser at the royal court and secretary-general of the Saudi Secretariat for the G20, highlighted the importance of the media in getting Saudi Arabia’s messages across.

Due to the G20’s own rules and regulations, not all of the G20 meetings and conferences will be open for members of the media to attend. However, Al-Tunisi told reporters that all of the necessary resources would be made available to them online and at the international media center, and that more press conferences would be held as necessary to bring them up to speed.