RIO DE JANEIRO: G20 leaders on Tuesday were holding the final day of a summit that offered some impetus to stalled UN climate talks, diverged on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East — and foresaw global turbulence as Donald Trump readies to take over the US presidency.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the Rio gathering, scored a first-day triumph by getting 82 countries to sign up to a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty he launched.

President Joe Biden represented the United States at the meeting, but as a diminished figure, eclipsed by the impending return of Trump as America’s leader in January.

Biden even missed a group photo of the leaders on Monday when he and the prime ministers of Canada and Italy turned up for it just after it had been taken.

In a joint summit declaration issued late on Monday, the leaders did not give a major breakthrough to COP29 climate talks taking place concurrently in Azerbaijan.

They did not end a deadlock over which countries have to stump up climate financing, saying in a joint statement the money needed to come from “all sources”.

But they did encourage developing nations represented in Baku by acknowledging that “trillions” of dollars — not billions — were needed to help them cope with global warming.

‘Turbulence’

The imminent return of Trump, though, was on many minds at G20 — mixed in with the issues of climate change, an escalation in the war in Ukraine, and economic pressures that are dealing political instability in some democracies.

Summit encouraged developing countries by conceding that ‘trillions’ of dollars were required to help them tackle global warming

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that the world faced a new period of “turbulence” and there should be “no escalation of wars, and no fanning of flames.” European Council President Charles Michel said: “The world is on a knife edge.”

Biden, responding to Russia now using North Korean troops in its invasion of Ukraine, has reversed US policy to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory. Russia has warned of an “appropriate response” if its territory is hit.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists at the summit “that meant they were operated by US military experts” and “we consider this a new phase in the West’s war against Russia, and we will react.”

In what was seen as a threat of nuclear escalation, he suggested Western capitals read “all” of Russia’s nuclear doctrine to understand the risks.

Against that backdrop, the summit statement welcomed “all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace” in Ukraine. But, as with previous G20 gatherings, there was no mention of Russian aggression.

‘Coup d’etat’

Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested four soldiers guarding the G20 summit over an alleged plot to assassinate then President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a 2022 “coup”, a federal police source said.

The four “were arrested in Rio, where they were participating in the security operation for the G20 leaders’ meeting,” said the source, who added that a police officer was also taken into custody.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024