Brazil Takes Over G20 Presidency
Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva: “Among the main goals of Brazil's G20 presidency will be the reform of global governance, mainly of organizations such as the UN and the International Monetary Fund.”
Brazil has assumed the rotating annual presidency of the G20, an international grouping of 19 of the world’s most industrialized countries and two collective members: the European Union and, starting this year, the African Union. The G20 accounts for approximately 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.
This is the first time this Latin American country has led the G20 in its current format. With a gross domestic product of $1,920 billion (2022), Brazil is among the world’s largest economies. Its strengths include highly developed national industry, which gives the country a dominant position on the continent. Brazil possesses huge agricultural resources, such as soybeans, corn, coffee, sugarcane, oranges, cotton, tobacco, pineapple, cocoa, cashews, and even livestock and poultry. This Latin American country has many rich deposits of gold, iron ore, manganese, bauxite, tin, niobium, and nickel. Brazil is one of the world’s largest steel producers and ranks sixth in the world in oil production.
Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva, who is currently attending COP 28 in Dubai, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, immediately announced that “his main goals as G20 President will be the fight against hunger, poverty, inequality, while sustainable development and global governance reforms will be promoted mainly by supranational organizations such as the UN and the International Monetary Fund.” In this context, the Brazilian government also believes that the chairmanship of the group provides an opportunity for international projection of President Lula da Silva’s administration.
At the opening ceremony of the Brazilian National Commission of the G20, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira stated, “If 2023 marked Brazil’s return to the world, then 2024 will be the year the world returns to Brazil.”
Brazil, along with Russia, India, China, and South Africa, was also among the five founding countries of the international group BRICS in 2016.
In addition to the G20 leaders’ summit scheduled for November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will organize more than 100 meetings and conferences in various Brazilian cities next year.