The focus of G-20 summit this year is the COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attended the 15th edition of the G20 Summit, chaired by Saudi Arabia this year. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump were among the world leaders who joined PM Modi via video conferencing to discuss the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, the host of the two-day summit, in his opening remarks, talked about "affordable and equitable access" of anti-COVID-19 tools, including vaccines in development.

"Although we are optimistic about the progress made in developing vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics tools for Covid-19, we must work to create the conditions for affordable and equitable access to these tools for all people," he was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.

"We have a duty to rise to the challenge together during this summit and give a strong message of hope and reassurance to our people by adopting policies to mitigate this crisis," he added.

Talking about the global economy, severely damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, King Salman appealed the world leaders to "reopen economies and borders to facilitate the mobility of trade and people."

"We must provide support to the developing countries in a coordinated manner to maintain the development already achieved over the past decades," he added.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said the focus of the summit would be on "an inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery from the COVID-19".

"During the G20 summit, the leaders will discuss pandemic preparedness and the ways and means to restore jobs. The leaders will also share their vision for building an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future," the ministry's spokesperson, Anurag Srivastava, said.