Saudi Arabia is presiding over a global forum this week that marries faith and policy and invites religious representatives to address the coronavirus pandemic, inequality, climate change and other societal challenges. The event began Oct. 13 and welcomes Christian priests, Muslim clerics, Jewish rabbis and other religious figures to a virtual space that is hosted as part of the kingdom’s yearlong presidency of the Group of 20 (G-20).

“The potential of religious communities as a partner for policymakers often goes unrecognized,” said Faisal bin Abdulrahman bin Muaammar, secretary-general of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, in a statement.

When the G-20 launched in 1999, the forum's primary focus was global financial stability. The group of 19 countries as well as the European Union, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey from the MENA region, regularly conferred with finance ministers, foreign ministries, central bank governors and global think tanks to discuss solutions to the world markets. G-20 economies collectively account for about 90% of the gross world product and 80% of world trade. 

At the time, the G-20 was born out of massive debt crises that had spread across emerging markets in the late 1990s. But that focus has expanded with the group’s adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Today, the group is tasked with handling “issues of global significance,” including migration, health care and development aid.