About the G20
The Group is the main forum for international economic cooperation.
The G20 is the main forum for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in defining and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
The G20 has annually rotating presidencies. Brasil will hold the G20 presidency from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024. Initially, the G20 focused mainly on general macroeconomic issues, but expanded its agenda to include topics such as trade, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, the environment, climate change and the fight against corruption.
The G20 Summit is the meeting between the Heads of State or Government of the member countries. The term “Summit” originates from its English definition (“Summit”) and refers to the highest point of a mountain. The Summit is, therefore, the culmination of more than a hundred G20 meetings over the course of a year.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brasil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Russia, Türkiye, UK and USA) and two regional bodies: the African Union and the European Union. The members of the G20 represent around 85% of the world’s GDP, more than 75% of world trade and around two-thirds of the world’s population.
The Brazilian Presidency of the G20 has laid out three key priorities: (i) fighting hunger, poverty, and inequality; (ii) energy transitions and sustainable development (social, economic, and environmental); and (iii) global governance reform. Among these priorities, tackling inequalities is emphasized as a crosscutting goal as they are either the root cause of current challenges or contribute to making them worse. Within and across countries, inequalities make it harder to fight hunger and poverty, to foster social inclusion, to advance just and inclusive energy transitions, to balance the three core components of sustainable development, and to promote the necessary investments to accelerate progress toward the SDGs and the Paris Agreement targets. Moreover, unequal representation and voice in global governance structures also hinders the reforms that are necessary to build a just world and a sustainable planet.
Until November 30, 2024, Brasil holds the presidency of the G20, a group that brings together the world’s largest economies – 19 countries, plus the African Union and the European Union.
Throughout this period, Brasil will be responsible for coordinating the G20 and organizing technical meetings, ministerial conferences and the next summit of heads of State, which will happen on November 18 and 19, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro.
G20 SOCIAL
G20 Social releases recommendation documents that engagement groups delivered to Sherpas
Greater social participation in G20 debates and negotiations has been a long-standing demand of the forum, and this year the Brazilian presidency took it a step further with the creation of the G20 Social. The delivery of engagement group documents to the Sherpas was unprecedented in the history of the G20.
The G20 Social engagement groups’ documents were handed over to the Sherpas on the afternoon of the second day of the meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Image: Audiovisual/G20
In an unprecedented moment in the history of the G20, G20 Social engagement group representatives were able to sit down at the meeting table with the Sherpas of all the countries and international organizations participating in the forum of the world’s largest economies—and to present, one by one, the groups’ main suggestions to the G20. The themes were varied, but had one thing in common: a critical social approach to the G20, with special attention to human, environmental and social pluralities.
The documents produced by the groups and delivered to the Sherpas are now available, compiled on this website, the official G20 page. Parliament 20 was the only one not to deliver them, as it was still discussing its agenda, including the participation of women in politics. The next meeting along these lines will take place later this month, with Finance Track delegates.
Read the full texts here: