New Delhi: On November 18-19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the instruction of the head of the state. A majority of the G20 member states’ leaders are expected to take part.
Brasilia regards the G20 as a core element of the polycentric system of international economic relations, distinguished by an effective decision-making mechanism due to its optimal number of members as well as the principle of consensus. The theme of Brazil’s first ever presidency of the forum is “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet.”
At the summit, the partners expect to reach consensus agreements, with the process viewed through the prism of the country’s international prestige. A leadership declaration (a non-signature document approved in the absence of objections from the parties) is expected to be the summit’s major practical outcome.
In line with its predecessors’ approaches, Brasilia stresses that the G20 should not focus solely on the interests of the golden billion but should equally concentrate on the needs of developing countries, if not more. In this context, the ambitious scope of its priorities is based on the core task of fighting inequality in all its forms and includes the following areas: social inclusion and the eradication of hunger; energy transitions and sustainable development; reform of global governance institutions. These issues will set the tone during the Rio de Janeiro summit, where three thematic panel sessions are planned.
The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (GAAHP) is a key initiative of the Brazil’s G20 presidency. The mechanism’s main goal is to develop effective national measures in the related areas in the G20 member countries in order to further implement them in countries in need. Representatives of the BRICS countries have already expressed their support for Brazil’s initiative in the Kazan Declaration, adopted following the 16th BRICS Summit.
Russia has been actively engaged in developing and coordinating the organisational and substantive aspects of the Brazilian project, having already added advanced domestic solutions on food security and poverty eradication into the database.
The summit in Rio de Janeiro will open with the launch ceremony of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. Russia’s planned official connection to this platform will give it another opportunity to raise issues relevant to the global majority at the international level, in particular, counteracting illegal unilateral sanctions and promoting domestic experience.
The G20, along with other global associations, such as the UN, is experiencing the negative impact of rising tension and division in the international arena, as well as the confrontational mood of the West. Contrary to the G20’s economic competences, a polemic on geopolitics was launched at the instigation of the G7; the forum began to be used by the US and its allies to aggressively promote their anti-Russia approaches.
Amidst the ongoing politicisation of the G20, Brazil strives to perform its functions as chair unbiasedly, aiming to restore the spirit of trust and solidarity at the forum. An important agreement was reached to leave geopolitics out of the G20’s joint communiques and reflect it in the chair’s unilateral statements. This decision made it possible to return to adopting declarations entirely by consensus, and focusing the G20 working groups’ activities solely on sectoral dossiers in their area of competence.
The next achievement was getting rid of the geopolitics in the outcome of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly High-Level Week (New York, September 25). The Call to Action agreed upon by the heads of foreign offices does not contain any relevant aspects and is not accompanied by a statement made by the chair.
The G20 chaired by Brazil has an extensive event schedule and a busy agenda, with over 120 official events in total, including 25 ministerial meetings, which is the record high number.
Brasilia’s another innovation was organising not one, as per tradition, but two meetings of foreign ministers: on February 21-22 in Rio de Janeiro and on September 25 in New York. The meeting at the UN venue, dedicated to the reform of global governance, was open not only for G20 members, but also for all other interested countries to participate.
For the first time this year, summits of supreme and constitutional courts (May 12-14) and prosecutorial services (October 20-22) took place in Rio de Janeiro under the Brazil’s presidency. The partners’ major initiative was organising the first meeting of women parliamentarians (Maceio, July 1-2). Additionally, the fifth meeting of space economy leaders took place in Foz do Iguaçu (September 11-13).
The G20 Social Summit (Rio de Janeiro, November 14-16) is expected to become a central event of Brazil’s presidency. President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has noted on many occasions that it is necessary to more actively involve civil society in the G20 efforts. To this end, Brazil has established a special mechanism, G20 Social, as a platform for various G20 networking groups to cooperate on.
The G20 continues to prioritise the stability of markets and the financial system, as well as measures to tackle and prevent crises and disturbances in the global economy, with the goal of ensuring continuous and inclusive economic growth.
In recent years, the forum’s agenda has significantly expanded due to social and humanitarian issues, with working groups set up for international cooperation in culture, science, women’s empowerment, and disaster risk reduction. The G20 has initiated a dialogue between supreme audit institutions, supreme and constitutional courts, and prosecutorial services.
Discussions in the G20 are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected, involving issues of energy, climate, labour market and environmental protection, as well as education and digitalisation. Particular attention on all tracks is paid to the technology advancement, particularly to artificial intelligence.
Russia plays a prominent role in the G20, efficiently influencing the course and direction of negotiations, as well as the content of agreements. Moscow views the platform as an essential forum for global economic governance.
The G20 is extensively used to promote Russia’s ideas on the importance of building an open and non-discriminatory global economy, and abandoning unilateral restrictive measures, trade wars and protectionism. Efforts are taken to draw attention to the long-overdue reform of the global governance architecture to benefit emerging markets, with the focus on ending the dominance of Western powers in international financial, economic and trade institutions, de-dollarisation, and increasing the share of settlements in national currencies.
Russia makes a major contribution to enhancing the role of developing countries in the G20 and their coordination in order to jointly protect the priorities of the Global South and East. The country was among the first to support the initiative of admitting the African Union as a forum member in 2023. Russia initiated an informal consultation mechanism that is fully functional now, allowing those who share similar views to compare notes on the most pressing issues on the agenda.
Russia has consistently advocated the essential need to depoliticise the G20, which should focus on its direct responsibilities to encourage economic growth and sustainable development. The opponents’ attempts to bring peace and security issues beyond the group’s authority to the G20 agenda are counterproductive; this destructive policy hinders progress in core areas and causes increased division between the members.
Russia views its priority in the G20 as achieving constructive agreements in the forum that consider all member nations’ interests based on consensus. Moscow seeks a proper and balanced understanding of sustainable development goals with due account of the states’ national interests, takes efforts to effectively use the G20 to promote the democratisation of international financial and economic structures, particularly, the IMF, World Bank and WTO, and makes steps to diversify mutual settlement mechanisms and build independent trans-border supply chains.
As a member of the G20, Russia makes consistent efforts to emphasise its high economic growth dynamics amidst the unprecedented sanctions pressure from the West, which has resulted in the country making the world top four economies as regards the GDP.
Russia has made obvious progress in developing the logistics and expanding the geography of cooperation, primarily with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as increasing foreign trade settlements in national currencies and boosting its non-energy exports. Russia reiterates its commitment to remaining a reliable supplier of agricultural products, fertilisers and energy resources to international markets, including through gratuitous assistance to the poorest countries.
Moscow pays particular attention to the efforts of its like-minded partners that aim to promote integration processes, in particular, through the Eurasian Economic Union, and highlights the prospects for promoting Russia’s flagship foreign policy initiative of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. It also highlights its achievements in the BRICS, EAEU, and SCO, as well as the progress made as part of bilateral cooperation in the development of transport corridors, independent mechanisms for settlements in national currencies, reinsurance, and exchange infrastructure.
