Business & Money | Sunday 2 December, 2018 3:43 am |

As the two-day G20 summit concluded on Saturday, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, grew in stature.

Many world leaders expressed confidence in his social and economic reforms.

Stability in Saudi Arabia is the cornerstone of prosperity and progress in the Gulf, and China firmly supports Riyadh in its drive for economic diversification and social reform, President Xi Jinping told the Crown Prince.

Xi said China has always attached great importance to its relations with Saudi Arabia.

“China firmly supports Saudi Arabia in its drive for economic diversification and social reform, and will continue to stick together with Saudi Arabia on issues involving their core interests,” Xinhua cited Xi as saying.

The Saudi press agency reported early on Saturday that the Crown Prince and Xi discussed partnership between the two countries and harmonizing Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Saudi energy supplies to China and mutual investment.

European officials said that G20 nations had agreed to commit to reforming the World Trade Organization.

“We reiterate that trade is beneficial for utility, innovation, growth and employment, and we reiterate that the multilateral trading system is the framework in which we are all working and committed,” the official said.

The officials also said the wording on climate change was “a little bit more than the status quo but not backtracking” and the language around steel was kept to a minimum.

Regarding migration, the language was kept to a minimum.

Once the closed-door discussions were over, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented the G20 Japan 2019. This way, the main forum on international cooperation will be presided over by a new troika, made up of Japan, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. The latter will lead the G20 in 2020.

On the first day of the summit, the Crown Prince reviewed with British Prime Minister Theresa May bilateral cooperation in all fields and the means to enhance them.

The Crown Prince also reviewed with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa areas of cooperation between the Kingdom and South Africa and opportunities for enhancing them in different fields, particularly in the fields of energy and mutual investments.

Crown Prince Muhammad also reviewed with Vice President of Indonesia Muhammad Jusuf Kalla aspects of Saudi-Indonesian relations in all fields.