Lula departs for India to take over G20 presidency

President Lula inside the presidential airplane. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva departed Recife airport late in the afternoon on Thursday for his trip to India, where he will attend this weekend’s G20 summit. Brazil will officially take over the rotating annual presidency of the G20 on December 1.

In a briefing to reporters last week, Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s secretary for economic and financial affairs, said that Brazil’s priorities at the helm of the G20 will include:

The fight against inequality, poverty, and hunger;
Sustainable development with differentiated responsibilities for developed countries;
Reform of global governance in bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Security Council.

The G20 has gained increased importance from the point of view of developing countries. The latest BRICS declaration, issued last month, states that the member countries “reaffirm the importance of the G20 to continue playing the role of the premier multilateral forum in the field of international economic and financial cooperation that comprises both developed and emerging markets and developing countries.”

As such, the G20 poses an alternative to the G7, which includes only the richest Western countries plus Japan.

During its year-long G20 presidency, Brazil will host various ministerial-level summits in all its five regions. The final summit, with heads of state and government, will be held in Rio de Janeiro on November 18-19, 2024.