At the opening of the summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the creation of a new global alliance to fight poverty and hunger. The initiative is supported by more than 80 countries, international organizations and foundations, Reuters reported.
Hunger and poverty are not the result of scarcity or natural phenomena… they are the product of political decisions
Lula emphasized in his opening speech. “In a world that produces nearly 6 billion tons of food every year, this is unacceptable,” he added.
Summit participants face a number of challenges, including the escalation of the war in Ukraine and the resulting geopolitical tensions.
Diplomats have struggled to reach a consensus on how to handle the conflict, especially in light of recent Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, including Munkács in Transcarpathia.
At the meeting, special attention will be paid to the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is expected to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. In contrast, US President Joe Biden promises to replenish the World Bank’s International Development Partnership fund and launch a bilateral clean energy partnership with Brazil.
Reform of global governance and taxation of the super-rich are also on the agenda of the summit, although disagreements are already visible among the participants on the latter issue.
The security of the G20 meeting is guaranteed by an increased police and military presence in Rio de Janeiro. In the hours before the summit, an incident occurred near one of the city’s slums, but it did not affect the course of the event.
Source: Reuters
Cover image source: Ricardo Stuckert/PR/G20 BRASIL/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Source: www.portfolio.hu
