Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Poutin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson or Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of the major member countries of the G20 should have met this weekend around a table in Riyadh.
The Covid pandemic obliges Saudi Arabia, which in 2020 will hold the rotating presidency of this forum, has indicated that it will be held, like so many others, by videoconference.
Read also:
Presidency of the G20 summit in 2020: multiple challenges for Saudi Arabia
The virtual format of the meeting modifies its dramaturgy and impact.
This weekend there will be no image of Emmanuel Macron seeming to scold Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, a few inches from his face, like at the G20 in Buenos Aires in 2018. Nor of dinner between Trump and Xi like the one which remained the highlight of this same Argentinian summit.
The 2020 G20 will be deprived of what John Kirton, whose team at the University of Toronto dissects these diplomatic meetings, qualifies as “
spontaneous combustion
” fueled by the exchange of looks and personal alchemy.
Read also:
At the G20, a "historic" agreement on the debt of poor countries
The restrictions imposed do not
This article is for subscribers only.
You have 83% left to discover.
Subscribe: 1 € the first month
Can be canceled at any time
Enter your email
Already subscribed?
Log in