In confirmation of the State of Qatar's keenness to maintain its presence and participation in international meetings, global consultations and specialized forums, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will participate Monday in the Group of 20 (G20) summit, at the invitation of HE President of the Federative Republic of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country holds the current G20 presidency. The 2024 G20 Summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro in the presence of Their Highnesses and Excellencies heads of state and government, and delegations.
Held under the theme "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet," the 19th G20 summit brings together leaders of the G20 member states representing the world's major economic powers, as well as the African Union, the European Union, heads of state and government of 19 guest countries, and leaders of 15 major international organizations.
Among prominent participants in the summit are US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two-day summit will focus on three priorities under this overarching theme - social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; energy transitions and the promotion of sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions; and reform of global governance institutions.
The summit features three main sessions. The first session will address combating hunger and poverty. Around 733 million people are suffering from hunger around the world. According to World Bank data, 20 million people, half of whom are children, live in conditions of extreme poverty.
The second session will focus on reforming global governance, while the third session will focus on sustainable development and energy transition.
The war in the Middle East will be present in the Rio de Janeiro summit. According to the Brazilian presidency, member states are divided on whether such crises and issues should be addressed in G20 discussions. These divisions have made drafting the Leaders' Declaration somewhat of a challenge.
However, negotiations on the G20 final declaration continued on the eve of the summit with the aim of finding a common language on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, as well as on other items on the agenda, such as food security, international debt and taxation, climate and energy, womens empowerment, and artificial intelligence.
Analysts believe that divisions and disagreements over some issues, and fears of the outbreak of trade wars next year, will not prevent Brazil from achieving consensus on the priorities of its G20 presidency, foremost among which are combating poverty and imposing taxes on the "super-rich."
The first plenary session of the summit will feature the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, a major initiative launched by the Brazilian president who leads the largest economic power in Latin America. The initiative aimed at mobilizing countries and international organizations to accelerate efforts in the fight against hunger and poverty by 2030.
At the Atlantic Council conference, hosted on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Rio de Janeiro, Executive Director of the World Food Program Cindy McCain emphasized that "food security is a national security issue, and it should be labeled as one."
"Weve lost all the progress that weve made in the past fifteen years" on lowering global hunger levels, McCain warned.
On taxing world's super-rich, the G20 countries had pledged cooperate on taxing the super-rich. However, it is not certain that the leaders participating in the summit will adopt this commitment and the conditions stipulated in it.
The G20 summit coincides with the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the end of a year that saw climate crises such as floods, drought and forest fires, the most severe of which were in Brazil.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at COP29 that all countries must do their part, but "the G20 must lead," because they are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities.
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell addressed the G20 leaders at COP29, calling on the G20 leaders to send a clear message affirming that climate crisis must become a major daily concern for the world's largest economies.
The appeal comes as negotiators at COP29 struggle to reach an agreement to increase funding to address the growing impacts of global warming. After nearly a week, the negotiations in Baku have reached a deadlock with countries no closer to agreeing on a $1 trillion deal for climate action investments in developing countries.
The Group of 20 (G20) is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 of the world's largest economies, as well as the European Union and the African Union.
The sovereign states of the G20 (without its international members, like the EU or AU) account for around 85% of gross world product, and 75% of international trade.
The G20 Summit is held annually, under the leadership of a rotating Presidency. The G20 initially focused largely on broad macroeconomic issues, but it has since expanded its agenda to inter-alia include sustainable development, health, food security, energy, climate change, and anti-corruption.
