RIYADH: Women will account for one third of all those attending the Business 20 (B20) summit in Riyadh in November, CEO and chairman of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) Yousef Al-Benyan said.
The female contingency of the 640 delegates from more than 20 countries, is “the highest ever in all B20s,” Al-Benyan said in an opening speech at the B20 Saudi Arabia inception.
The B20 summit will form part of the 15th annual G20 leaders’ summit which runs from Nov. 21 to 22, for the first time in Riyadh.
The event will focus on equity, and gender equality in terms of increasing women’s participation in business, especially in leadership positions, he added.
B20 Saudi Arabia will also address challenges in digitization, energy, sustainability and climate, finance and infrastructure, future of work and education, trade and investment and finally integrity and compliance.
The G20 is a forum where the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies meet to discuss a number of issues, but often ends in stalemate situations where leaders fail to reach an agreement on major issues.
At the G20 summit in Osaka last year, leaders agreed to disagree on climate change, with the USA dissenting from a commitment to carry out the 2015 Paris climate change agreement.
Organizers of this year’s event are more hopeful of a positive outcome on burning issues.
“The aim of B20 in Saudi Arabia is to ensure that the voice of a global business is heard and addressed by the G20 leaders,” Al-Benyan said.
“To do this, we need B20 Saudi Arabia intended to be inclusive, impactable and for sure differentiative,” he added.
