RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Sixteen years later, Brazil will once again preside the group of the world’s 20 largest economies (G-20). The last time the country chaired the group was in 2008, at the height of the international financial crisis, which ultimately strengthened the multilateral body and is, to this day, considered a milestone in its existence for the way it quickly and jointly dealt with the instability.
According to the G20 leaders’ press release on Sunday, November 22nd, Brazil will host the group in 2024. Currently, the group is chaired by Saudi Arabia – which for the first time organized the event online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The country will be succeeded by Italy on December 1st.
The summit held in São Paulo in November 2008 was a kind of “warm-up” for a new feature the group had just developed because of the crisis: the first summit of heads of state, convened by the then American president George W. Bush. It was precisely at that time that the emerging countries were asking for greater space for participation in global decisions and in the creation of joint solutions. And they gained greater representation.
G-20 representatives had been meeting once a year since 1999, but experts point to 2008, when the meetings took place in São Paulo, as the group’s true take-off. The institution was founded in the late 1990s as a reaction to the crisis that erupted in Asia and ultimately contaminated the entire world.
It is up to the country chairing the G-20 to choose the main topics to be discussed during that year. Sixteen years ago, Brazil selected competition in the financial markets, clean energy and economic development, and fiscal growth and development factors.
In top-level G-20 meetings, in addition to heads of state and government, the senior officials of multilateral organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank also take part.
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo