On the 7th and 8th of September, the Labor 20 engagement group launched its Saudi L20 Summit, titled “A New Social Contract for Recovery and Resilience,” which was held in the Saudi capital Riyadh in accordance with COVID-19 safety measures, and was streamed online to allow the participation of international speakers and audience.
The L20 summit, held virtually, hosted a number of prominent officials, such as ministers, trade union leaders, representatives of the other G20 Engagement groups, and other stakeholders.
The two-day L20 is part of the broader G20 organizational events that are taking place this year virtually hosted by Saudi Arabia. The summit hosted a number of prominent officials, such as ministers, trade union leaders, representatives of the other G20 Engagement groups, and other stakeholders from the labor markets, such as the Saudi executive and judicial branches of government, labor and unions representatives, and labor training institutes.
The summit started with a speech from the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which was delivered by his representative, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, His Excellency engineer Ahmed Alrajhi. The participants later deliberated on some of the most prominent challenges that were brought out by COVID19, and reviewed public and private efforts and initiatives to address them, aiming to provide labors with resilience and social protection during the recovery process.
The speakers also examined the state of the labor standards. As for the Saudi market, the panelists discussed the ongoing dynamic reforms of the Saudi labor market, and explored the role of reskilling and regulations in building a workforce that is ready for the future, while also ensuring the inclusion of women and youth in the workforce.
In the opening speech, delivered by Alrajhi, King Salman noted that while the pandemic was the foremost challenge facing labor, longer-term challenges must be met with collective action from the G20 nations. “We have reviewed the joint statement which was released by the Engagement Groups upon the extraordinary leaders’ summit last March, which discussed avenues of collaborations in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This evidently shows the important role that labor organizations, represented by the L20, play. The L20 represents the voice of all workers, which was clearly demonstrated in the four statements that you released during the Saudi Presidency year,” Alrajhi said.
“Building upon what we agreed on as G20 leaders during the extraordinary summit, we reiterate that our utmost current priority is overcoming the pandemic and its health, social, and economic impacts. L20 Saudi Arabia 2020 labor summit concluded its sessions Tuesday in Riyadh in the virtual presence of international, regional, and local participants.”
The unprecedented virtual Labour 20 (L20) Summit, which advocates for the interest of workers around the world, was chaired by Nasser Aljaryad, chairman of the Saudi National Committee of Workers Committees, and attended by notable delegates from various organizations.
“One cannot speak about labor policies without looking toward the future of work considering the occurring technological developments and demographic changes,” Alrajhi said. “This requires creating new jobs, revising our understanding of work environments, and the significance of keeping up with changes through up-skilling and re-skilling for all segments of society, especially women and youth. We pay careful attention to women, youth, and young entrepreneurs to facilitate their access to labor markets.”
