The foreign ministers of the Group of Twenty countries are meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday to discuss tensions in the world, global conflicts, including Russia's war against Ukraine, and ways to improve multilateral organizations in preparation for the annual G20 summit chaired by Brazil, UNN reports citing Reuters.
Details
"The two-day meeting, which will be held in Rio Harbor, will begin on Wednesday with a review of the global situation and conflicts in the world, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza," the publication says.
As noted, given "the ongoing fighting between Russia and Ukraine and the war in the Gaza Strip," diplomats are not optimistic that proposals on global governance, whose reform the Brazilian president has made a top priority for the group this year, along with curbing climate change and reducing poverty, will be easy to push through at the G20.
"We live in a world without governance, and the proliferation of conflicts is unprecedented. There is a lack of governance to solve global problems," diplomat Mauricio Lirio, Brazil's G20 Sherpa, told reporters on Tuesday.
He said that today there is a consensus on the need to reform the United Nations, with Brazil advocating for the expansion of the Security Council, a proposal that has not gained momentum due to resistance from veto-holding countries.
Lirio acknowledged that disagreements arise when it comes to what changes should be made to the United Nations.
"This meeting will essentially be a session devoted to developing arguments in favor of multilateral reforms and diagnosing the problem," a European diplomat told Reuters.
Thursday's session will focus on global governance, Lirio said.
As an innovation, Brazil will propose holding a second meeting of G20 foreign ministers in September during the UN General Assembly in New York to advance negotiations on global governance, he said, inviting all UN member states to participate.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet face-to-face at the table for the first time since they spoke briefly face-to-face at last year's foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi, the newspaper reports.
Addendum
The G20 accounts for about 85% of global GDP, over 75% of global trade, and about two-thirds of the world's population.