G20 text leaves wars in Gaza and Ukraine just a footnote.
The final result was an official statement from the G20 presidency with nine paragraphs agreed by the participating countries. On Wednesday (28), the idea was to mention Gaza and Ukraine, but not mention the other two countries in order to have consensus in the final communiqué.
The final text of the G20 meeting had agreement on almost all points, except for the paragraph that cited the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, which remained without consensus and became a footnote.
Brazil, which will hold the presidency of the G20 in 2024, made proposals to include the topic “war”, but the G7, a group of the most industrialized countries in the world, did not accept it.
The final result was a “chair statement”, an official statement from the G20 presidency, written by the Minister of Economy, Fernando Haddad. This document included all nine paragraphs previously agreed by all countries and the specific footnote on the issue of wars. Only this footnote was not agreed upon by the group.
The foreign ministers present at the G20 did not formally discuss the document written by the Brazilian government. The issue of war was the only significant obstacle to all issues being approved in the final charter.
Attempt to remove Israel and Russia from final text
On Wednesday (28), Brazil suggested removing mention of Israel and Russia to conclude the G20’s final text, presented at the end of the meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Banks at the meeting, in São Paulo.
The idea was to mention Gaza and Ukraine, but not mention the other two countries in order to have consensus in the final communiqué.
Taxing the super-rich was mentioned, although the issue was mentioned indirectly. The expression chosen to address the issue was “fair and progressive taxation”.
Despite the lack of explicit mention of the super-rich, the taxation approach was seen as a positive development. The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, had already defended the taxation of the group, highlighting, however, the need for international agreements that prevent capital flight between nations.
In an interview with Mais, from GloboNews , on Wednesday, Dário Durigan, number 2 at the Ministry of Finance, reinforced his support for taxation of the super-rich.
What is the G20?
The Group of 20, or G20, is an organization that brings together economic ministers and central bank presidents from 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.
Together, the G20 nations represent about 85% of the entire global economy, more than 75% of world trade and about two-thirds of the world’s population.
The G20 has annual rotating presidencies. Brazil is the current president of the group, took office on December 1, 2023 and remains in charge until November 30, 2024. During this period, the country must organize 100 official meetings.
The main one will be the Brazil G20 Summit, scheduled for November 18th and 19th, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro.
After each Summit, the group publishes a joint statement with conclusions, but countries are under no obligation to include them in their legislation. Furthermore, separate meetings of officials from two countries are an important part of the events.
The G20 is made up of the following countries:
- South Africa;
- Germany;
- Saudi Arabia;
- Argentina;
- Australia;
- Brazil;
- Canada;
- China;
- South Korea;
- U.S;
- France;
- India;
- Indonesia;
- Italy;
- Japan;
- Mexico;
- UK;
- Russia;
- Türkiye;
- European Union;
- African Union.
The G20 emerged in 1999, after a series of global economic crises in the 1990s. The idea was to bring together leaders to discuss global economic, political and health challenges.
At that time, there was a lot of talk about globalization and the importance of a certain proximity to be able to solve problems. The G20 is, in fact, a creation of the G7, which is the group of democratic and industrialized countries, made up of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
The first meeting of G20 leaders took place in 2008. Each year, one of the 19 member countries organizes the event.