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Brazil opened a conference of foreign ministers from the G20 group of nations yesterday by blaming the United Nations and other multinational bodies for failing to stop mounting wars and conflicts that are killing innocent people.
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira called for “profound reform” of global governance as Brazil’s top priority for its presidency this year of the group of the world’s largest economies.
“Multilateral institutions are not adequately equipped to deal with current challenges, as demonstrated by the Security Council’s unacceptable paralysis in relation to ongoing conflicts,” Vieira said at the opening of a two-day meeting to prepare the agenda for the G20 annual summit in November. “This state of inaction results in the loss of innocent lives,” he said.
Ministers from the G20 nations, including the US and Russia, began a free discussion of current world tensions and ways to improve multilateral organisations – a priority set by Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, along with curbing climate change and reducing poverty.
But with continued fighting between Russia and Ukraine and the war in Gaza, diplomats are not optimistic that proposals to upgrade global governance will advance easily within the G20.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Lula in Brasilia on his way to the Rio meeting and expressed US support for Brazil’s agenda to make global governance more effective, spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
The top US diplomat discussed the conflict in Gaza with Lula, amid a diplomatic spat after the Brazilian leader likened Israel’s war in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during the Second World War.
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