The G20 leaders’ summit begins Monday in Rio de Janeiro. Issues of extreme importance to the world economy and politics have been announced, but the adoption of the final declaration may be in doubt. The Brazilian presidency of the G20 has established three main priorities: social inclusion, reform of international institutions and energy transition.
The leaders will begin the first day of the summit by discussing the launch of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, which involves the contribution of countries and international organizations to accelerate the fight against these social phenomena by 2030. As previously reported by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria ZakharovaRussia intends to announce its accession to the global alliance at the summit.
Additionally, on November 18, leaders will discuss reforming structures such as the UN, IMF and WTO so they can work more efficiently and fairly.
The debates on the second day of the summit will be dedicated to the issue of energy transition. The G20 countries account for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions, so Brazil wants to discuss the transition to green technologies and energy.
The issue of climate change may become one of the obstacles to the adoption of the final declaration due to the position of the president of Argentina JavierMiley on this topic. He has repeatedly questioned the existence of such a problem and during the election campaign he even called climate change “a lie of socialism.”
Argentina has already rejected more than one international initiative. Thus, Buenos Aires distanced itself from the Future Pact, a UN document aimed at combating hunger, poverty, and climate change, that is, issues that Brazil considers one of the main issues within the G20. Additionally, Argentina voted against a resolution aimed at preventing violence against women online.
According to the Financial Times, Argentina could block the final communiqué of the G20 summit due to objections related to taxation of the super-rich and gender equality.
Previously in an interview with RIA Novosti, the ambassador of the Russian Foreign Ministry Marat Berdyev reported that work on the G20 final declaration is progressing with difficulty, there are attempts to “Ukrainize” the summit agenda, but Russia hopes that the document will be adopted in a balanced manner and intends to fully guarantee its interests.
Brazilian Sherpa at the G20 Mauricio Lily He earlier told reporters that the country wants to include in the leaders’ statement a message about promoting peace in global conflicts, which refers to both the situation in Ukraine and the Palestinian issue. Brazil believes that peace is necessary so that political efforts and financial resources can be focused on fighting poverty and promoting sustainable development.
