By Ingo Plöger*
The Group of Twenty (G20) is the main forum for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in defining and reinforcing global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues. It is made up of 19 countries (South Africa, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, United States, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom, Russia and Turkey) representing 85% of world GDP and 75% of international trade and around two-thirds of the world population. Therefore, it is a forum of high political and economic representation.
Headquartered for the first time in Latin America, in Brazil, the countries of the region, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico assume greater responsibility. The work system is that civil societies organized by theme can deliver to the heads of nations proposals for major global challenges. B20 – Business 20 – led by Brazilian Dan Iochpe, an entrepreneur in the automotive sector, coordinates the subgroups formed and organized by the CNI, which involves around 900 business representatives 1). B20 Brazil has established seven task forces and an action council, dedicated to specific areas that resonate the motto:
“Inclusive Growth for a Sustainable Future”.
With this motto, B20 Brazil wishes to focus discussions and recommendations on five central axes:
◉ Promote inclusive growth and combat hunger, poverty and inequalities;
◉ Promote a just transition to zero net greenhouse gas emissions;
◉ Increase productivity through innovation
◉ Promote the resilience of global value chains;
◉ Value human capital.
Areas include trade and investment, employment and education, digital transformation, energy transition and climate, finance and infrastructure, integrity and compliance, sustainable food systems and agriculture, and women, business diversity and inclusion.
The host country, in this case Brazil, has the prerogative to propose the work agenda, which reflects the effort to bring the vision of the country and its region to the global debate. They will be the themes to be addressed by the 7 working groups such as: Trade and investment, energy transition and climate, integrity and compliance, digital transformation, finance and infrastructure, sustainable food systems and agriculture, women and business diversity and inclusion. 25 CEOs and senior executives will lead this agenda.
What would be the difference to expect from this effort?
Certainly, the democratic environment in Latin America will impose a differentiated Governance in an increasingly autocratic world. Insertion, diversity, transparency and ethics will be a strong mark of how to do it. As for what to do, Latin America will offer innovative solutions to combat climate change with social inclusion. While the Northern Hemisphere is based on this theme on “passive” agendas, for example, concentrating efforts on reducing carbon, as the cause of the greenhouse effect, Latin America will open options for the “active” agenda, that is, what promotes temperature reduction by the tropical photosynthesis cycle 3 times more powerful than in the Northern Hemisphere. Solutions involving energy biomass (ethanol, biodiesel, SAF, Biomethane), the sustainable food chain, and forest preservation and recovery services are assets in tropical regions. The integration of industry, agriculture-minerals, capital and human resources will be another aspect. 80% of the Brazilian population is urban, where more than half live in cities smaller than 400,000 inhabitants that are directly and indirectly linked to agriculture. New business models, such as Crop, Livestock and Forestry Integration, supported by not only production and marketing cooperatives, but also the gigantic growth in these regions of financial cooperatives with their integrative social action.
Innovations through the digitalization of the countryside and the city ensure that productivity and insertion are established in education and training 2). Another way, but no less important, is the Brazilian experience of the so-called “Bolsa Família”. A concept and realization that came from the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and was improved in all subsequent governments. Today it reaches around 20 million families, where the mother is the beneficiary, with a monthly income of around 140.-US$ per month, with compensation in education and environmental services, paid via a digital card, at a low cost. corruption risk. It is noteworthy that the beneficiary of this resource will seek for her family to consume what is most necessary in that circumstance, including food, medicine or school supplies, among others, developing the local market, at market prices 3). Experience showed that the beneficiaries’ local GDP grew above Brazil’s median GDP, that is, it fed the local situation, with income and work. The 14 billion R$ ($3 billion) paid by this program are much more effective for these purposes than subsidizing food and other products, which discourage local production and are objects of corruption and political influence. This experience and others will be demonstrated on several occasions and may be copied by other countries. Rio de Janeiro is the location where the G20 Summit will meet in November 2024 and hosts numerous meetings of political and business leaders and partners gather throughout the year. CEAL itself plans to bring together its leaders at the end of October to promote debate regarding the G20 objectives.
An opportunity for Latin America to get off the defensive and show what it has!
*Ingo Plöger is a Brazilian Entrepreneur, President CEAL Brazilian Chapter
https://b20brasil.org/
https://b20brasil.org/digital-transformation
https://oantagonista.com.br/brasil/bolsa-familia-2024-novidades-e-aumento-de-beneficios/#:~:text=O%20valor%20base%20do%20benef%C3%ADcio,aproximadamente%20R%24%20679%2C23.
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