Brazilian President Lula launches anti-poverty and hunger alliance at G20

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched the Group of 20 Summit in Brazil by unveiling a global alliance to combat poverty and hunger, News.az reports citing Al Jazeera.

In his opening speech on Monday, Lula emphasised that these challenges stem from political choices. He also highlighted the widespread impact of climate change, calling on world leaders to take decisive action.

The initiative was signed by 81 countries, including 18 of the 19 G20 countries, as well as the European Union and the African Union. The only G20 country not to sign on was Argentina, which is currently led by far-right President Javier Milei.

A Brazilian Foreign Ministry source has told the news agency AFP that some countries were seeking to renegotiate the draft summit communique.

“For Brazil and other countries, the text is already finalised, but some countries want to open up some points on wars and climate,” the source said.

The gathering of the world’s leading economic powers at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art on Monday and Tuesday is being held amid the Middle East and Ukraine wars, and around two weeks after Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election.

Brazil’s left-wing president has been using his hosting duties to promote issues close to his heart, including fighting hunger and climate change and taxing the super-rich.

But the wars that have bitterly divided G20 members are also set to feature prominently in the discussions.

“Ukraine is not going to be an item on the formal agenda,” said Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, noting that Ukraine had not been one of the 19 guest countries invited to attend. “But around the discussions in the margins of the meeting, where all the important business gets done, it’s going to be one of the key agenda items.”

“The G20 is not the ‘friends of the US’. It has countries that are competitors and adversaries of the United States, including Russia itself,” Bays added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has an international arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, is the summit’s most notable absentee – despite earlier reassurances by Lula that he would not be arrested if he were to attend. Putin is being represented by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

US President Biden is attending the G20 summit, which will be his last. His reported decision on Sunday to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles against targets inside Russia – a significant policy shift – has loomed over the first day, and could lead European allies to reassess their positions.

News.Az