Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — An extraordinary virtual “G20 Digital Economy Ministers” meeting under the Saudi presidency was held on Thursday to discuss the challenges posed by the coronvirus pandemic and to forge a global coordinated response harnessing digital technologies.

The ministers vowed to work together to deliver on the commitment to leverage digital technologies made at extraordinary virtual summit of G20 leaders on March 26.

"We emphasize the promising role of digital technologies and relevant digital policies to strengthen and accelerate our collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to enhance our ability to prevent and mitigate future crises,” G20 ministers said in a final communiqué following the summit.

Highlighting the importance of access to Internet connectivity, the ministers said: “We will work together on an urgent basis with the private sector and business entities, in particular with telecommunications and Internet service providers, and civil society, to maximize inclusive, secure, and affordable connectivity, especially in underserved areas and for vulnerable people.”

“We underscore the importance of keeping telecommunication networks and digital infrastructure, in particular in health provider and research environments, robust, secure, accessible, and resilient,” the ministers added.

Acknowledging the uncertainty associated with COVID-19 and the power of data and Artificial Intelligence to accelerate pattern recognition and enable evidence-based policy-making, the ministers said: “We encourage collaboration to collect, pool, process, and share reliable and accurate non-personal information that can contribute to the monitoring, understanding, and prevention of the further spread of COVID-19 as well as other infectious diseases.”

Underling the need for research and development of digital technologies for health, the policymakers of the world major economies said: “We recognize the potential of digital technologies, including AI, to contribute to the fight against and prevention of pandemics by accelerating development of potential diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines, playing a critical role in diagnosis, supporting health professionals, monitoring of patients’ vital signs remotely or in the hospital, facilitating remote care through virtual care and telemedicine, optimizing hospital logistics and operations, and providing information to the public via chatbots.

Given the extreme importance and urgency of slowing down the spread of COVID-19, the ministers vowed: “We will endeavor to work collaboratively to leverage digital technologies and solutions to enable individuals and firms to continue to participate in the economy.”

We support the evidence-based, trustworthy, and human-centric deployment of digital technologies and solutions and any resulting policies, in a manner that respects individuals’ privacy, security, and human rights.”

“We will endeavor to share best practices within existing national processes to enable timely national response to counteract malicious cyber activities that present material risks to the security of the digital economy and the individuals and businesses of which it consists, the ministers said while realizing the increased digital vulnerability in the context of a pandemic.

“We encourage MSMEs to leverage digital technologies and solutions in carrying out production, business activities, and international trade cooperation, so as to maintain the stability of global supply chains. “To enable this acceleration to digital business models, the G20 Saudi Presidency will work with stakeholders and International Organizations to develop a menu of policy options that will serve as a knowledge asset for governments of G20 countries and beyond, they vowed.

“To achieve the urgent progress in these areas that the current crisis demands, we encourage the sharing among G20 countries of digital economy policy interventions, practices, lessons learned, and solutions in response to COVID-19. “This will help us identify critical common challenges, proven policy interventions and implementation practices to help G20 countries and beyond, in particular developing countries and regions, to mitigate the immediate challenges of COVID-19 and those that may emerge in the future, they concluded.