On Tuesday, 19 November, Brazil hosted the closing session of the G20 summit on sustainable development and energy transition, as well as a ceremony to hand over the group’s presidency to South Africa.

At the meeting, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a speech in which he emphasised the achievements of the Brazilian G20 presidency, as reported by
Brasil 247, a partner of TV BRICS. 

He highlighted the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, the approval of the first multilateral document on the bioeconomy, the call for global governance reform with a focus on increasing African representation, and the commitment to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030.

In addition, Lula da Silva spoke about the formation of a coalition to produce vaccines and medicines, as well as efforts to expand funding for water infrastructure.

“Indonesia, India, Brazil and now South Africa offer approaches and visions that address the interests of the vast majority of the world’s population”

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva President of Brazil

At the ceremony handing over the ceremonial mallet of the presidency to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Brazilian leader drew attention to the deep historical, cultural, economic and social ties between Africa and Latin America. He wished his South African counterpart success and assured of Brazil’s support during the G20 presidency. 

For his part, Ramaphosa outlined South Africa’s future priorities for the G20. According to him, the country will focus on promoting inclusive economic growth, food security and artificial intelligence.

“South Africa has adopted the G20 Presidency theme of ‘Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability’. We will work to ensure that no one is left behind”

Cyril Ramaphosa South African President

The G20 summit kicked off in Rio de Janeiro on 18 November. As Daria Zelenova, Head of the BRICS African Strategy Centre of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted earlier in an interview with TV BRICS, South Africa will also focus on the development of the African continent, the digital economy and new technologies in agriculture.

Photo: Ricardo Stuckert / Flickr