Lula da Silva met this Saturday with Antonio Guterres in Rio de Janeiroin advance of the G20 Summit which, at the beginning of this week, will bring together the heads of state of the largest economies in the world. Thus, the Brazilian president and the Secretary General of the UN began the bilateral meetings that will take place in the coming days, between leaders of the two dozen participating countries.
As reported by Brasilia in a statement, the focus of this first meeting was on the G20 Socialan initiative promoted by Lula, which concluded this Saturday, and which sought give non-governmental social actors a more active role in the group’s activities and decision-making processes.
“For the first time in the history of the G20, civil society from various parts of the world, in its most diverse forms of organization, met to formulate and present their demands before the Leaders Summit”said Lula during the closing of the event.
The forum addressed issues such as fight against the climate crisishe boost of the bioeconomy for the support of indigenous peoples without damage to the environment, the promotion of economic autonomy of womenthe fight against hunger, poverty and inequality, sustainable development and a reform of global governance, among others.
In their final statement, the participants agreed on the need to move towards an “inclusive, sustainable and resilient” future, through “concrete” and “immediate” actions. “Agreements cannot remain on paper, the world needs decisive action now”the document insists.
Based on these discussions, Lula considered it essential to continue with the initiative, as he expressed to Guterres, which is why he extended his desire to talk with South Africa -who will assume the presidency of the G20 in December- so that “adopt the practice of holding the Social G20, listening to the demands of social movements and civil society”.
The leaders also discussed the progress of the climate summit, the COP29which takes place in Baku, and initiatives that will be negotiated this Monday and Tuesday.
The G20 in Rio will bring together figures such as the outgoing president of the United States, Joe Biden; the Canadian president, Justin Trudeau; the german chancellor, Olaf Scholz; the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez; its Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping; the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa; and the Argentine neighbor, Javier Mileyamong others. Who will not be present, however, will be the Russian president, Vladimir Putinon whom weighs a arrest warrant from the International Criminal Courtwhich would put his freedom at risk, if he appeared in the South American country.
Beyond the event’s own agenda, the event will have Biden as one of the main protagonists as it is his last participation before handing over the position to his successor. Donald Trump. In fact, the White House already indicated in a statement that its objective will be to encourage countries to work together on issues such as poverty, climate change and the over-indebtedness of developing nations, as well as supporting “the rights of the workers.”
Meanwhile, for Brasilia diplomacy, it will be a key opportunity to put the country back in a central place in the international community, which was somewhat displaced during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
(With information from EFE)
