Brazil in the Presidency of the Financial G20: Agendas, Dynamics and Challenges

February 07, 2024

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by Jefferson Estevo [1] and Alina Ribeiro [2] (Boletim Lua Nova (Google Translation)) Brazil assumed the presidency of the Financial G20 on December 1, 2023 with the motto “Building a fair world and a sustainable planet”. Created in 1999, the group is made up of the nineteen largest economies in the world plus the European Union. At the Group's Summit, held in October 2022 in New Delhi (India), the 55 countries of the African Union became part of it. Brazil defined three axes as the pillars of its presidency: the fight against poverty and hunger, tackling climate change and the reform of global governance. One hundred official meetings are planned, twenty of them ministerial and another fifty at high level, in addition to side events. All this work will culminate in the 19th G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government (Brazil, 2023a), in November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro.

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The climate crisis, another of the SDGs, is part of a recovery of agendas prior to the process of dismantling environmental policy experienced in Brazil since 2016, a period in which there was a rupture in the history of Brazilian participation in environmental issues (Estevo, Ferreira, 2022; Saraiva, Albuquerque, 2022). With regard to tackling climate change, the Lula government has reaffirmed the need for resources and technology transfers, as well as political will and greater determination on the part of governments (Brazil, 2023b), following the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

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Today, the Group of 20 is made up of nineteen countries (Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, United States, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom, Russia , Turkey and South Africa) and two regional organizations (European Union and African Union), totaling one hundred countries.

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... G20 was therefore created as a forum for discussion on international economic governance.

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Summits take place in countries that hold the pro-tempore presidency for one year. As it does not have a permanent secretariat or a fixed group of employees like international organizations, the country that presides is assisted by the so-called troika , a combination of the three countries that hold the previous, current and future presidency. This ensures greater cooperation and alignment in organizations and discussions (Daric, 2016; G-20,2023a), as well as continuity of agendas over the years. During the current Brazilian presidency, the troika is made up of India (2023), Brazil (current presidency) and South Africa (2025). It is worth noting that the current troika and the previous troika , formed by Indonesia, India and Brazil, were composed of countries from the Global South (CIPÓ, 2023).

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In 2022, under Indonesia's presidency, one of the main themes that formed part of the agenda was the latent need for a global energy transition. Therefore, there were debates on financing to combat climate change, compliance with the SDGs, investments in infrastructure and food security.

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At the last Summit held in September 2023 in India, emphasis was placed on the environmental agenda, reinforcing this theme that dominated the previous Summit in Indonesia (G-20, 2023c).

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We can consider that one of the main hallmarks of the Summit in India was the entry of the African Union, which groups 55 countries (African Union, 2023). This membership represents a greater presence of countries from the Global South in the G20.

Final considerations

Holding the G20 Financial Summit in Brazil could be another opportunity for the Lula government to reaffirm the country's leading role in international politics in order to reposition it as a central actor. To this end, it is crucial to choose globally important issues such as poverty and the fight against hunger, climate change and the search for global governance reform in order to make international organizations more plural, inclusive and that take into account the needs of the global South.

The Group, responsible for coordinating positions in the field of finance and economics, also covers themes of global geopolitics (although these debates are not included in the final declarations), constitutes an important forum in which Brazil can – and should – exercise leadership.

Also noteworthy is Brazil's commitment to the demands and needs of countries in the Global South, a stance that will certainly echo in the G20. This can be seen in Brazil's strong support for the integration of the African Union into the Group. As a result, Brazil will host the first expanded G20 Summit, now with the unprecedented presence of the African Union as a member. In addition, greater attention is also expected to be paid to civil society participation through engagement groups, something that has been advocated by Brazil.

In this context of reconstruction of foreign policy and exercise of Brazilian leadership, the holding of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Brazilian soil in the year 2025. There therefore appears to be possibilities for reordering Brazilian foreign policy and recovering its historical agendas, returning to being a country integrated with the issues that move the world. A Brazil aligned with the demands of the Global South and no longer subservient to the Global North is also present.

* This text does not necessarily represent the opinion of Boletim Lua Nova or CEDEC .

References

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[1] PhD in Social Sciences from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and post-doctoral researcher in Political Science from the Federal University of Goiás. CNPQ and FAPEG scholarship holder. Member of the G-20 Reflection Group on Brazil at the Institute of International Relations at the University of Brasília. Email: jeffersonestevo@ufg.br

[2] PhD student in Political Science at the University of São Paulo (USP), with a CAPES scholarship. Researcher at the Center for Latin American Studies (NEL-UnB) and member of the G-20 Reflection Group in Brazil at the Institute of International Relations at the University of Brasília. Email: alinasilvaribeiro@gmail.com

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