RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil pushed for concerted action to alleviate hunger Monday as it hosted a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies amid global uncertainty over two major wars and incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva welcomed foreign leaders to Rio de Janeiro’s modern art museum Monday morning and delivered an opening address that focused on fighting food insecurity.
“It is for those of us here, around this table, to face the undelayable task of ending this stain that shames humanity,” Lula told his colleagues. “That will be our biggest legacy.”
Heightened global tensions and uncertainty about an incoming Trump administration ahead of the summit already had tempered expectations for a strongly worded statement addressing the conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Further dimming prospects of consensus, Argentina’s negotiators challenged some of the draft language.
That has left experts anticipating a final document focused on social issues like the eradication of hunger — one of Brazil’s priorities.
“Launching the global alliance (against hunger) was Brazil’s main objective. That was the main point, it was Brazil’s first priority. But other priorities have fallen by the wayside without achieving concrete results, which frustrates Brazil a little,” said Paulo Velasco, an international relations professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. “It will be difficult to have detailed criticism against Russia or Israel regarding the two wars that could impede consensual support, which is definitely not what Brazil wants.”
After Lulathwarted far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro ‘s reelection bid in 2022, there was some excitement in the international community at the prospect of the leftist leader and savvy diplomat hosting the G20. Bolsonaro had little interest in international summits, let foreign policy be guided by ideology and clashed with several leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron. Lula took office and often quoted a catchphrase: “Brazil is back.”
Under Lula, Brazil has reverted to its decades-old principle of nonalignment to carve out a policy that best safeguards its interests in an increasingly multipolar world, even as his administration’s foreign policy has at times raised eyebrows.
For the first time ever, Argentina has signed the G20 declaration while dissociating itself from certain aspects, its presidency said in a statement posted to X. Its objections related to limiting freedom of expression on social media; infringement on national sovereignty by institutions of global governance; and greater state intervention to fight hunger, its statement said.
One official from Brazil and one from another G20 nation say Argentine negotiators most vehemently opposed a clause calling for a global tax on the superrich — which they had previously accepted, in July — and another promoting gender equality. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Last month, Argentina alone opposed a declaration of the G20 working group on female empowerment, preventing consensus. While Lula received heads of state Monday with smiles and warm embraces, he and Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei stood at arms’ length while briefly shaking hands. Milei is an avid Trump supporter.
Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election earlier this month and the imminent return of an “America First” doctrine may also hamper the diplomatic spirit needed for broad agreement on divisive issues, analysts said.
Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio, Brazil’s key negotiator at G20, told reporters earlier this month that Lula’s launch of a global alliance against hunger and poverty on Monday is just as important as the final statement. As of Monday, 82 nations had signed on to the plan, Brazil’s government said. It is also backed by organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
A demonstration Sunday on Rio’s Copacabana beach featured 733 empty plates spread across the sand to represent the 733 million people who went hungry in 2023, according to United Nations data, and calling on leaders to take action.
“Brazil wanted a global deal to fight poverty, a project to finance green transition and some consensus over a global tax for the superrich. Only the first one has survived,” according to Thomas Traumann, a former government minister and a political consultant based in Rio.
Be that as it may, Lula reiterated his call for a tax on billionaires at the start of leaders’ afternoon session.
“Taxation of 2% on the total assets of superrich individuals could generate funds of about $250 billion per year to be invested in facing up to social and environmental challenges all over the world,” Lula said.
U.S. President Joe Biden attended the summit after a stop in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He also traveled over the weekend to Manaus, a city in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. It was the first time a sitting American president set foot in the Amazon.
The White House announced Sunday a $50 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, after a prior $50 million. Biden’s administration announced plans last year to give $500 million.
White House officials have said Biden also would use the summits to press allies to not lose sight of finding an end to the wars in Lebanon and Gaza and to keep up support for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s invasion. Looming large on Monday was news of Biden’s decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of longer-range U.S. missiles to allow that country’s military to strike more deeply inside Russia.
During the summit, Biden pointed to his soon-to-end administration’s efforts on global hunger and poverty. He urged counterparts to redouble efforts to ease those ills, as well as to resolve wars in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.
“The United States strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table in my view should, as well,” Biden said.
Biden had intended to be part of the G20’s group photo, a set piece at most international summits, but it occurred earlier than scheduled, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly. He missed it, along with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Canada’s Justin Trudeau, the current and next leaders of the G7 group.
Any commitments Biden makes at the G20 may be overturned by the next White House administration. Trump’s election may also cause some countries to look toward China as a more reliable partner. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with China’s Xi Jinping on Monday, the first meeting between British and Chinese leaders since 2018, seeking to repair relations with Beijing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the summit’s most notable absentee. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant that obliges member states to arrest him. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the meeting.
In a plaza a few blocks away, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to denounce the killings in Gaza, some beating drums and chanting “Long live the fight of the Palestinian people!” Among them were two rabbis who traveled from New York. Israel isn’t a G20 member.
“We are trying to get the message to the G20, to the leaders of the world,” said Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, from the Neturei Karta International movement. “It is so critical. We are witnessing the mass murder of people and it is being perpetuated in the name of my religion, of Judaism. We cannot be silent, we dare not be silent.”