King Salman will chair today’s virtual summit which will bring together leaders of the most powerful countries, the summit organized by Saudi Arabia’s G20 will tackle the accelerating coronavirus crisis.

King Salman leads the #G20 leaders into #COVID19 discussions with the aim to combat the pandemic and ensure global economic stability, for all.#G20VirtualSummit

— G20 Saudi Arabia (@g20org) March 24, 2020

The virtual summit will see the participation of the G20 group, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, and Singapore’s heads of state will also take part, this summit is one of the long-anticipated events and has gone virtual in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

The World Health Organization, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will all take part as well as other development organizations.

King Salman will open the two-hour digital forum in Riyadh, and then the world’s great capitals will take turn in discussions, in an attempt to face the virus that imposes a global challenge and is a threat to the health and well-being of all nationals.

“Saudi Arabia has a real opportunity to rise to the occasion and reassure global energy and financial markets when the world faces serious economic uncertainty.” Michael Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said on Wednesday.

The summit is the first of its kind to grant global leaders the opportunity to discuss and collaborate on the enormous challenges imposed by COVID-19. Hopefully, the G20 virtual summit will set a policy among those leaders, in addition to a collective response and concerted action.

Due to the current scare of COVID-19 and its outbreak, Jeddah Season has been cancelled as a precautionary measure to avoid the spread of the virus.

The Kingdom has so far been taking all the right and necessary measures to face the spread of the virus. from suspending Hijj to canceling flights and shutting down cafes and restaurants.

“We assure everyone that we have made this decision out of our belief in the importance of joining efforts to counter the virus and limit its spread,” the season’s management said in a statement.

The statement also highlighted the organizers’ appreciation to everyone who was eagerly waiting for the season to launch and “bring with it a myriad of surprises to all the people of the Kingdom, its residents and for all visitors from abroad.”

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Red Sea International Film Festival has announced the issuing of a SR200,000 ($53,283) fund as an emergency community relief grants in order to support struggling Saudi filmmakers.

It has been noticed how Saudi freelance filmmakers are struggling with financial problems due to the current outbreak of the virus, which has led to the cancellation or postponement of several projects as precautionary measures.

But looks like, the RSIFF is here to the rescue and is offering these generous grants to help filmmakers carry on with their projects.

ستستمر مؤسسة مهرجان البحر الأحمر السينمائي في تقديم كل ما يدعم ويقدم العون لمجتمع صناعة الأفلام المحلي في السعودية. نطلق اليوم صندوق الدعم الاجتماعي لصنّاع الأفلام المتأثرين جرّاء الإجراءات الوقائية الاحترازية. نحو مجتمع صناعة أفلام اكثر تضامناً. للمزيد: https://t.co/zlw3xeGkYo pic.twitter.com/C8n5OlkYQq

— RedSeaFilm (@RedSeaFilm) March 17, 2020

The festival which is one of the most anticipated events in the MENA region, was also postponed earlier this month.