Press statement by Minister Mauro Vieira at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting - Rio de Janeiro, February 22, 2024

Good afternoon, everyone. I will say a few words and give you a brief summary by the end of our two days of work. We have just concluded our first meeting, an important meeting - the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the G20. I would like to say that this was the first meeting and that usually one meeting is held a year, but that the Brazilian presidency submitted the proposal, which was accepted, to hold a second meeting in September, on the sidelines of the opening session of the 79th United Nations General Assembly, in New York. It will be a meeting of the G20 members, but open to all UN members who wish to make remarks so that we can have an extensive debate on the themes that have been the main focus in this meeting yesterday and today. As you know, a series of G20 ministerial meetings, around 20, will be held in different Brazilian cities, starting with the track meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, which will take place in São Paulo, next week.

Our meeting here in Rio was the first ministerial meeting held in our presidency and was attended by 45 delegations, including member countries, guest countries and international organizations, 32 of which were chaired at ministerial level.

I cannot help but mention the great support we received from President Lula, who upon assuming the G20 presidency selected three themes as the central pillars of the Brazilian mandate. In each of the meetings we have adopted and addressed these pillars.

As I said in my speech yesterday, Brazil is not interested in living in a fractured world. We need to work hard to overcome today's international challenges. The priorities of the Brazilian presidency are known, have been welcomed by everyone and are aimed at offering some concrete answers and initiatives, including the global action against hunger and poverty.

We had two very productive working sessions: one yesterday afternoon and another one this morning. In the first session, under the theme “current geopolitical tensions”, member countries expressed their views on the role of the G20 in the ongoing tensions, including the two main conflicts addressed in the group: Palestine and Ukraine.

Several countries reaffirmed their rejection of the war in Ukraine, as they have been doing since 2022 after the outbreak of the conflict, under the Indonesian and Indian presidencies.

A large number of countries from all regions expressed concern about the conflict in Palestine, highlighting the risk of a spillover to neighboring countries. Many of them also called for an immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas.

Special emphasis was placed on the forced displacement of more than 1.1 million Palestinians to southern Gaza Strip. In this context, there were several requests for immediate humanitarian aid access to Palestine, as well as calls for a cessation of hostilities. Many spoke out against Israel's announced operation in Rafah, asking the Israeli government to reconsider and reverse this decision immediately.

Furthermore, there was virtually unanimous support for the two-State solution as the only possible solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

There was also, as I said before, unanimous support for the priorities that Brazil established for its G20 presidency, in particular regarding concrete actions to fight inequality and hunger.

This morning's session addressed the reform of global governance, which Brazil regards an urgent issue and a priority.

Everyone agreed on the fact that the main multilateral institutions – UN, World Trade Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund, among others – need to be reformed so that they can adapt to the challenges of today's world.

As for the UN, there was consensus regarding the organization's essential role for peace and security and for promoting sustainable development. Therefore, everyone mentioned the need to add momentum to the discussions on reforming the organization, especially its Security Council, with the inclusion of new permanent and non-permanent members, in particular from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. The different existing proposals in this regard need to be effectively discussed, and we intend to speed up this process.

With respect to multilateral development banks and the IMF, there was also great convergence of views on the need to facilitate financial support for the poorest countries, as well as on the urgent need to increase the representation of the developing world in the governance of the institution. The central role of the WTO and the urgent need to reestablish its dispute settlement system was also mentioned in some speeches.

Finally, I am very pleased to highlight that the Brazilian proposal to hold a second meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in September, on the sidelines of the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as I said before, was greatly welcomed. For the first time,  the G20 will convene inside the UN headquarters, in a session open to all members of the organization, in a “call for action” to promote global governance reform.

The presence of all of you here today reflects not only the importance of Brazil but also the role of the G20 as a forum for international dialogue. Thank you for the coverage and I regret that I cannot interact more with you at this moment and answer questions, as I am the host of a lunch being held now to the heads and all members of the delegations.

I would like to conclude by thanking the mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, for his warm welcome, for holding this meeting here, and for hosting a reception for all members of the delegation last night. Thank you very much.