Brazil prepares for the G20 Summit of Presidents of Parliaments

From the Senate News Agency

Under the slogan “Parliaments for a Just World and a Sustainable Planet”, Brazil is hosting the 10th G20 Summit of Presidents of Parliaments in Brasilia from November 6 to 8. Created in 2010, the group of parliaments from the world's richest countries (P20) will debate proposals that help contribute to global issues.

The G20 brings together the countries with the world's largest economies. Respectively, the P20 works to guide these governments through inter-parliamentary cooperation and the exchange of information. For the first time, Brazil is in charge of the presidency of the parliamentary group, with a mandate until November 30 this year. The 10th Summit is an event organized by the two houses of Congress and has the partnership of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

 

The Brazilian presidency of the G20 has defined as priority themes the fight against hunger, poverty, and inequality; the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental); and the reform of global governance.

Sixty-two delegations from 35 countries have been invited to the summit - which had its current format defined in 2018 in Buenos Aires. Representatives of seven international institutions, including the United Nations (UN) and the Mercosur Parliament, are also expected to take part.

Sessions

The 10th Summit, to be held in the buildings of the National Congress, will dedicate November 7 and 8 to working sessions, with debates based on the priority axes of the P20.

The fight against hunger, poverty and inequality, problems exacerbated by issues such as conflicts, economic crises, and extreme weather events, is the first of the three topics to be debated. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) showed that one in five people in 59 countries faced food insecurity in 2023.

Delegates should be prepared to reflect on and discuss how parliaments can help define policies that guarantee the population's food and nutritional security, for example.

On another front, also on the 7th, socio-environmental development and a just and inclusive ecological transition will be discussed, including the dimension of dealing with natural and man-made disasters. The intensification of extreme weather events and the humanitarian impacts caused by disasters should guide the sharing of good practices in tackling these challenges.

Examples of reflections are what measures parliaments should take to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (17 goals defined by the UN), ensuring that the ecological transition and other relevant national policies are accompanied by justice and social inclusion.

Finally, on the 8th, the debates will focus on global governance adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. There, delegates are encouraged to reflect on how parliaments can influence the reform of global governance in institutions such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), in order to achieve more effective, inclusive, fair, balanced, and sustainable results when it comes to development.

Women parliamentarians

This year, Brazil held the 1st Meeting of Women Parliamentarians of the P20, under the slogan “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet”. The meeting took place in Maceió (AL) on July 1st and 2nd.

From the exchange of information, the participating delegations focused on three priority themes: climate justice and sustainable development for women and girls; increasing women's representation in decision-making spaces; and combating inequalities and promoting women's economic autonomy.

The meeting resulted in a final declaration, called “The Letter from Alagoas”, with recommendations that will be presented at the G20 Parliamentary Forum on November 6, as proposed by the Brazilian presidency of the parliamentary group. One of the proposals even provides for this meeting of women parliamentarians to be permanently included in the P20 calendar from 2025.

The Forum's proposal is that delegations highlight their interventions based on current laws, public policies, and good practices, taking into account everything that was recommended at the 1st Meeting of Women Parliamentarians of the P20. “The Letter from Alagoas” raises concerns such as ‘denouncing the seriousness of political gender violence and its effects’.

Document

At the end of this work, a document should be produced, based on consensus between the parliamentary representatives, which will be delivered to the G20 Leaders' Summit, scheduled for November 18 and 19 in Rio de Janeiro.

The G20 accounts for no less than 85% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and 75% of international trade. With two-thirds of the planet's population, the group includes the African Union and the European Union, South Africa, and Germany,

Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, the United States of America, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Turkey.

Senate News Agency (Reproduction authorized by quotation from Senate News Agency)