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Wars and “turbulence” invite themselves at the opening of the G20 summit
Conflicts arose on Monday at the opening of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, with a call from Joe Biden for Ukraine and a ceasefire in the Middle East, while China’s Xi Jinping warned about an era of “turbulence”, a few weeks before the return of Donald Trump. Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country is this year at the head of the forum of the world’s largest economies, wanted to put the conflicts aside to se focus on “the poor, the invisible of the world”. But he was quickly caught up in the news. From the first plenary session, American President Joe Biden called on the G20 countries to support the “sovereignty” of Ukraine. “The United States strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Everyone around this table, in my opinion, should do the same,” he said. Words that take on resonance particular at a strategic moment: the United States in fact gave Kiev a green light on Sunday for the use of its long-range missiles against Russia. Joe Biden also called on the G20 to “increase the pressure on Hamas” for a ceasefire with Israel, all by assuring that he would “continue to work for an agreement” before leaving power. The American president participates in one of his last major international meetings before returning the keys of the White House to Donald Trump, declared opponent of multilateralism.”The world is currently entering a new period of turbulence and change”, warned Chinese President Xi Jinping during an interview with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Xi Jinping, who appears to be the strong man at the summit facing Biden at the end of his term, has a series of bilateral meetings of this type on his agenda. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had already missed the last summits, is notably absent in Rio. – Hot and cold in Argentina – Will the G20 leaders be able to overcome their differences to agree on a final declaration, and if so with what content? “For Brazil and other countries, the text is already closed, but some countries wish to reopen certain points on wars and the climate,” a source at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP on Monday morning, without comment. say more.”The discussions on Ukraine and the Middle East (…) are the most difficult. We will see how far we can go in the communiqué, it will be a challenge”, admitted before the G20 a German government source. The members of the G20 (19 countries, as well as the European Union and the African Union), which represent 85% of global GDP and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, are also eagerly awaited on the climate. The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres called on them on Sunday to assume their “leadership” and to make “compromises” to unblock the negotiations which have been stalling for more than a week at COP29, the climate conference in Baku. Another uncertainty: the attitude which will be adopted by Argentine President Javier Milei, ultra-liberal and climate sceptic. Buenos Aires has raised objections and will not “necessarily” sign the text, the head of the Argentine delegation, Federico Pinedo, told AFP on Sunday evening, without going into the details. But the Brazilian diplomatic source cited above underestimated the Argentine opposition. Buenos Aires already stood out Monday morning by being the only G20 country not to appear on the list of 81 countries of the Global Alliance against Hunger and poverty launched by Lula. The coalition aims to unite efforts in order to release financial resources or replicate initiatives that work locally. Argentina finally changed its mind a few hours later and joined the Alliance, according to a Brazilian government source. The relations between Javier Milei and Lula are execrable. The icy handshake they exchanged just before the summit showed this vividly.bur-soe/tmo/mm
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