RIYADH — Officials from the Ministry of Culture and its commissions took part in the virtual preparatory meetings organized by Italy, the host of the 2021 G20 Summit, as part of the work of the cultural track on the sidelines of the G20 agenda. The cultural track emerged during Saudi Arabia's Presidency of the G20 in 2020, which resulted in establishing the "Cultural Sherpa Track". The meetings come within the efforts of the G20 presidency country to establish a global cultural dialogue platform to enhance the tracks of the multilateral cultural cooperation. Saudi Arabia succeeded in adding this cultural track to the agenda of the G20 summit for the first time in the history of this summit after organizing the first high-level ministerial meeting of the culture ministers of the G20 countries last November. The Saudi initiative received support from the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), making it a permanent feature within the framework of the G20 summit. Bandar Al-Malaq participated in its first session of the first meeting on the protection of cultural heritage and fighting illicit trafficking of cultural property" in which he spoke about the need to devise a mechanism for coordination among all responsible authorities in order to combat the crime of illicit trafficking in cultural property. Speaking during the second meeting on addressing the climate crisis through culture, Dr. Sumaya Al-Suleiman talked about the impact of climate change on heritage and cultural diversity. In the third meeting on Building capacity through training and education, Professor Noha Al-Sharif from the General Administration of Studies and Research at the Ministry of Culture spoke about how to preserve heritage for the sake of cultural and economic renewal. The seminars are part of the efforts of the G20 presidency to establish a global cultural dialogue platform in order to enhance the paths of multilateral cultural cooperation.
