Brazil and the G20
When the G20 leaders convene in Buenos Aires this weekend, it will be the culmination of a year of intense and fruitful work. Under the Argentine Presidency and leadership, subjects and topics as diverse and relevant as education, the digital economy, environment, trade, energy transition, financial inclusion, immigration, terrorism and fight against corruption have been debated, and now the G20’s leaders will consider these discussions in adopting the Buenos Aires G20 declaration. Brazil believes that this kind of exercise, performed by actors as important as those forming the G20 membership plus the special guests, is fundamental in the challenging times we are living.
The G20 dates back to the 1990s, as a group formed by the largest economies to tackle the economic crisis in Asia (1997), Russia (1998) and Brazil (1999). Then, it dealt exclusively with financial and economic topics, at ministerial level. As years went by, it became clear that both its agenda and its level of participation should be revamped. In 2008, the group established a Leaders Summit and started to incorporate new themes. Nowadays, the G20 represents 90 percent of the world’s GDP, 80 percent of international commerce and two-thirds of the globe’s population. That means that the G20 is, by itself, one of the most important global governance mechanisms. Moreover, its formal flexibility makes it particularly relevant, as became patent when the group helped to coordinate the policies that successfully averted a global depression following the 2008 crisis.
The world has been going through a groundbreaking transformation in recent years. To fathom the scale of that change it suffices to note that, 10 years ago, the priorities chosen by the current Argentine G20 Presidency were seldom on the agenda at this kind of international meeting. The first theme is the future of work. In 2008, new technologies were not as present and disruptive as to be a source of anxiety regarding the way people learn, work and earn their livings. Closing the investment gap related to the financing of modern infrastructure for the development – the second priority – is also an urgent theme that would have seemed marginal, at best, a decade ago. The third priority, “a sustainable food future,” has to do with sustainable development, a concept fully incorporated only after the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the so-called Rio+20 Conference, held in Brazil (2012). To give a final example, the transversal “gender perspective” theme adopted by Argentina would have sounded outlandish 10 years ago, when the G20 decided to summon its first leaders meeting to debate the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis.
But the social and economic transformations brought about by the impact of new technologies have made the addressing of these themes a pressing task. Brazil is deeply grateful for Argentina’s effort in keeping the G20’s agenda innovative and forward-looking.
Other, more traditional G20 themes have also been dealt with in a constructive way this year. The overhauling of the global financial architecture should continue, and the G20 is a privileged forum to advance consensus on the subject, especially now that economic forecasts show a possible slowing down of global GDP growth in the coming years.
In short, our world is going through a period of tectonic changes, which will impact our everyday lives. The nature of those impacts will depend on the degree of coordination global actors are willing to sustain. Brazil considers the G20 one of our best tools to understand those changes and, thus, to foster cooperation toward the construction of a new, more democratic and prosperous global order. This G20 meeting, under the inspiring leadership of Argentina, a close partner and friend of Brazil’s, shall confirm that.
Brazil is deeply grateful for Argentina’s effort in keeping the G20’s agenda innovative and forward-looking.