CHINESE President Xi Jinping attended the G20 summit via videoconference from Beijing on Thursday.

The videoconference, the first of its kind in G20 summit history, is President Xi’s first international meeting since the pandemic began, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said  Wednesday.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the meeting aimed at advancing a coordinated global response to the outbreak and its human and economic implications.

In the aftermath of the 2008 international financial crisis, leaders of the G20 major economies came together for the first time.

The summit was held at a time when the pandemic rages across the world, posing a grave threat to human health and safety while fueling worries about its huge impact on the global economy.

The leaders of G20 nations were joined by their counterparts from some invited countries, including Spain, Jordan, Singapore and Switzerland, as well as international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Financial Stability Board, the International Labor Organization, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Xi’s attendance shows China’s strong resolve to promote international cooperation on jointly fighting COVID-19, demonstrating its positive attitude toward strengthened coordination and a stable world economy under the G20 platform, Ma said.

For now, the Chinese Government has provided 83 countries and international organizations with emergency assistance to battle the novel coronavirus, Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui said Thursday.

On one hand, China continues to work hard to ensure the containment of the contagion at home. On the other, China has shared experiences with over 100 countries and organizations to fight against the virus, Luo noted.

“We have held nearly 20 expert videoconferences with over 100 countries,” Luo detailed. “We have also sent medical teams to countries severely affected by the coronavirus.”

China is working closely with the rest of the world, providing assistance and experience, said Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission.

The country has actively shared information about COVID-19, and enhanced the technological exchanges with international experts, Zeng noted. China also dispatched experts to other countries to help with their response, he added.

China has strengthened international cooperation in the research and development of vaccines against COVID-19, according to Xu Nanping, vice minister of science and technology, at the press conference Thursday.

Vaccines are key to the fight against the epidemic and it is the right choice to carry out international cooperation as vaccine development is difficult and faces many uncertainties.

China shared the complete genome sequence of the novel coronavirus with the world once it had been identified, hoping many countries could carry out vaccine research and development at an earlier date, Xu said.

China has adopted five technological approaches in vaccine development, and the recombinant adenovirus vector vaccine started its clinical trial March 16. All the five approaches are open for international cooperation, which is already underway, the official said.

(CGTN)