As the world continues to combat the ongoing climate crisis and wars in the Middle East and Europe, world leaders have gathered in Brazil for the 19th G20 Summit 2024.
G20 2024 is being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 18 and 19 with a focus on the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality; sustainable development and reform for global governance.
All 19 member states - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Russia, Türkiye, UK and the USA and the European Union - will be attending the two-day long summit.
The 19th G20 Summit also marks the first summit for the newly inducted member - the African Union. The AU was made a permanent member of the group of twenty during the 2023 summit in New Delhi, India.
G20 Brazil - Who Is Attending?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and close ally to Brazil has arrived in Rio for the two-day summit. Along with PM Modi, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be present at the G20 Summit.
Argentine President Javier Milei, Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and many more leaders will be attending the Brazilian conference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to remain absent at global conference. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be representing the Russian Federation at the 19th G20 Summit.
G20 Brazil - What's On Agenda?
The G20 Summit in Brazil comes alongside the COP29 Climate Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. For this summit, Brazil has laid out three primary objectives which are -
The fight against hunger, poverty and inequality.
The three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental)
The reform of global Governance.
Keeping these objectives in mind, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza are likely to be discussed in the group to try and arrive at a consensual stance, as they did during the New Delhi Summit for the Ukraine war.
When it comes to the Gaza war, countries, especially close allies of Israel such as the United States have called for a scale back of the violence and Israeli bombardment of Palestine and now Lebanon.
However, for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu any G20 resolution on the Middle East "must include Israel's right to defend".
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023, Tel Aviv has maintained its right to self-defence and carried out an extensive response to the Hamas attack of October 7.
The response, which Israel continues to define as self-defence, has actually been labelled as genocide against the people of Palestine.
Ahead of the G20 Summit, newly appointed Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar raised concerns about the draft resolution, stating it was "unbalanced and biased against Israel".
"In my discussions with my counterparts, I stated that the summary statement addressing the conflict in our region must include recognition of Israel's right to defend itself, a demand for the release of all hostages held by Hamas terrorists for more than 400 days under horrific conditions, and condemnation of both Hamas and Hezbollah," said Sa'ar in a post on X.
Along with this, discussions are also expected on climate finance as topics from COP29 carry forward. The G20 comprises 85 percent of the world's economy, and its member states remain the largest contributor to multilateral development banks. Keeping this in mind, the number of countries contributing to climate funding and the final goal is expected to be reached during the Brazil summit.
Meanwhile, three-year long war in Ukraine is also expected to be on the table, especially with the latest escalation from Russia and the alleged involvement of North Korean troops on the frontlines.
