President Xi Jinping will attend the G20 Extraordinary Virtual Leaders' Summit on COVID-19 on 26 March in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Wednesday.

The summit will be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the G20 2020 President, via video link.

On Wednesday, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu spoke about the summit's background and China's expectations in an interview with People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV and China Daily.

Ma said the G20 Extraordinary Virtual Leaders' Summit will be convened on 26 March. President Xi will attend the summit, together with leaders of other G20 members, guest countries and relevant international organizations. This will be the first video summit in the history of the G20 and the first major multilateral event to be attended by President Xi since the outbreak.

Ma noted that the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in multiple countries and locations have created severe political, economic and social impacts. It has become the pressing desire of the international community to step up cooperation against the pandemic. As the premier forum for global crisis response and economic governance, the G20 brings together major advanced economies and emerging markets, and has played a crucial role in responding to the 2008 international financial crisis. To be held at this critical juncture to discuss and coordinate efforts to control COVID-19 and stabilize the world economy, this G20 extraordinary summit is of special importance.

Ma said that thanks to the personal guidance and instructions of President Xi, China has achieved remarkable progress in epidemic control, which has been highly commended by the international community. President Xi's attendance at the upcoming summit will demonstrate China's firm resolve to work with the international community to fight COVID-19; it reflects China's readiness to fulfill its responsibility as a major country by promoting international cooperation on pandemic response; and it highlights China's role as an active supporter of greater coordination and cooperation of the G20 to stabilize the world economy. China hopes to see the following from the extraordinary summit:

First, greater solidarity. The virus respects no borders, and no country can stay immune to this outbreak. Only with concerted efforts can the pandemic be defeated, the economy stabilized, and order restored. G20 members must come together in greater solidarity and send a strong message of jointly tackling this challenge to boost the confidence of the international community.

Second, enhanced cooperation. International cooperation is of vital importance as COVID-19 spreads rapidly around the globe. While doing its utmost to contain the outbreak at home, China has acted promptly to help other affected countries to the best of its ability. We have shared our experience, worked with others to strengthen capacity building, offered much-needed medical supplies, and facilitated other countries' purchase of supplies from China. It is hoped that G20 members will help and work closely with each other to jointly safeguard international public health security.

Third, stepped-up coordination. The pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the global economy. While ensuring effective prevention and control, China is restarting economic activities in an orderly manner, playing an important part in stabilizing the global industrial and supply chains. It is our hope that all parties will strengthen macro-economic policy coordination, take necessary fiscal, monetary and structural policies, promote market openness and keep the global supply chain open, stable, secure and unclogged. By doing so, the G20 will play a constructive role in boosting market confidence.

All in all, China is ready to work with other G20 members for positive outcomes of this extraordinary summit.