G20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - If It Was Successful Remains to Be Seen
The meeting of the main industrialized and emerging countries was overshadowed by crises. In the end, however, there is an unexpected agreement.
translated from Sudgeutchse Zeitung, November 19, 2024
It was probably the photo Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had hoped for: Brazil's president in front of the Sugar Loaf Rock in Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by the powerful of the world.
Some are missing from the picture:
Justin Trudeau, for example, the Canadian Prime Minister, as well as his
Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, and even
US President Joe Biden
The three, it was said later, were late for the photo shoot and when they finally arrived the picture was already shot.
The rest of the politicians and presidents stand together, hand in hand – and that alone is a great success in these difficult times.
The G20 summit ended in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, the annual meeting of heads of state and government of the most important emerging and industrialized countries.
This year it was overshadowed by a number of crises, starting with the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine over the global one climate change to the dwindling power of the West in the world.
Some participants traveled in a weakened position:
US President Joe Biden is only in office for almost two months, and
Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks to an uncertain future because of the new elections in February.
There was only a minimal consensus on the Ukraine war
The expectations for the G-20 summit were accordingly low, but the result in the end was still a success: Because there was not only a group photo, but also a joint final declaration, at the end of the first day.
In part, this remains vague: the goal is reaffirmed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, with “trillion dollars “ – where this money should come from remains unclear.
And sometimes the wording does not go beyond a minimal consensus: this is about the suffering of the people in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
The Russian war of aggression is – different from 2022 and in heavily weakened form also in 2023 – no longer explicitly condemned, and the attack by the terrorist group Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023 is not even mentioned.
At the same time, the G-20 participants also agreed on some surprising points and quite ambitious goals.
Super-rich are to be taxed more effectively in the future: there should be more exchange between the G-20 countries, among other things to close tax loopholes.
The G20 countries also want to fight hunger and poverty worldwide.
Both projects go back significantly to the host's commitment: Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva comes from a simple perspective.
In his speech at the opening of the summit on Monday, the 79-year-old said that hunger often does not arise because of scarcity or natural phenomena:
“It is the product of political decisions that maintain the exclusion of a large part of humanity.“
That is why he announced the creation of a “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty”.
It is expected to start operating next year and its goal is to eradicate hunger and poverty by 2030.
Our note: so Lula wants to fight hunger and poverty globally -
this should go over well in Brazil with
half of Brazilians going hungry due to inflation and high energy costs
Several international financial institutions have already joined the alliance.
Support also comes from organizations and more than 80 countries worldwide, including Germany.
There was initial resistance from Brazil's southern neighbor Argentina.
The country is also part of the G-20 group but has been ruled by Javier Milei for almost a year.
In the past, the right-wing libertarian head of state had repeatedly referred to his left-wing Brazilian counterparts as “corrupt communists “, “thief “ and “idiotic dinosaurs “.
Although Milei has been in office for almost a year, Lula and he were now directly opposite each other for the first time at the G-20 summit.
The encounter was eagerly awaited but ultimately did not go beyond a short and formal handshake.
Despite initial resistance, the Argentine delegation ultimately joined the “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty“, as did the resistance to the proposal to increase the taxation of super-rich people.
How many of the suggestions and demands can really be implemented in the end must be shown.
Because on the 20th January Donald Trump takes office as 47, President of the United States.
And at the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, there was no doubt that the world would be different afterward (Trump returned to office).