What to expect from Brazil’s G20 presidency

The stars have aligned to put the Brazilian government in the spotlight on the global stage. By the time President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finishes his term in 2026, Brazil will have held the rotating presidencies of the United Nations Security Council, the Mercosur trade alliance, the BRICS group of developing nations, and the Group of 20 (G20), as well as hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP) in late 2025. Brazil officially took over the G20 presidency on Friday, a task that will conclude with a summit in Rio de Janeiro in late 2024. 

The G20 is the main forum for economic cooperation and dialogue among the world’s leading economies, although membership has not been updated to keep pace with their performance — according to the latest International Monetary Fund data on GDP, Australia and Argentina should be out, and Iran and Egypt in.

Brazil pushed back its BRICS leadership to 2025 to avoid accumulating both roles in the same year, a sign that it has big plans for both. Back in January, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the country had postponed its BRICS leadership “so that we can do a good job in every opportunity that presents itself.”

The G20 currently consists of 19 countries (including all members of the G7) plus the European Union and the African Union. Including the latter two, the G20 represents about 85 percent of global GDP,  75 percent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.

Lula was an early enthusiast of the G20. In 2008, after a summit in Washington that marked the first time G20 leaders met at the level of heads of government, Lula said the meeting had been “historic” and that he...