G20 diplomats face challenges in negotiations on climate issues, taxation of the richest and the situation around the war in Ukraine
Diplomats from the G20 countries discussed a joint statement to be prepared before the leaders’ summit. The main topics were financing the fight against climate change, taxation of the super-rich and the situation related to the war in Ukraine. This is reported by the agency Reuters.
The G20 summit, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro on November 18-19, will be held in parallel with the UN climate conference COP29. Discussions at the G20 are about a new financial target that developed countries should set to support climate initiatives. UN officials and delegates hope the G20 leaders will send a powerful signal that will strengthen political support for an agreement on climate finance at COP29.
However, the talks in Rio again reached the usual impasse. According to the four diplomats, developed countries are also calling for contributions from richer developing countries, while the latter insist that the main responsibility should lie with the richest states.
Attempts to reach a global agreement may become more difficult with the return to office of the newly elected US President Donald Trump, who has already announced his intention to withdraw the country from the Paris climate agreement.
In addition, the discussion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has become another difficult issue for the G20 from 2022, and the escalation of the conflict in Gaza has added new challenges. G20 diplomats in Rio have tried to avoid discussing the wars during previous meetings this year. They now plan to use general wording based on UN principles and calls for peace, as well as separate paragraphs on the situation in Ukraine and Palestine.
Another topic of discussion was the issue of taxation of large fortunes, which is important to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the host of the summit. However, unexpectedly, Argentina refused to support this initiative in the final communique.
Argentina’s opposition came after the country’s president, Javier Millay, visited Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he became the first foreign leader to meet the US president-elect. According to the sources, Argentine diplomats, at the request of Miley, are now insisting on removing the reference to the tax for the richest from the text of the communiqué. Perhaps the question will be included with a note that Argentina does not support it.
