Notícias
Address by Minister Mauro Vieira at the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Governance Group (3G) - New York, September 23rd, 2024
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank my esteemed colleague, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, for the invitation to speak at this Global Governance Group Ministerial Meeting. It gives me great joy to be here and talk with you this year, as chair of the Group of Twenty.
As you certainly know, Brazil has chosen as its G20 Presidency’s motto the sentence “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet”. It represents the three priorities proposed by President Lula for the G20 this year: (a) social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; (b) the promotion of sustainable development and just energy transitions; and (c) the reform of global governance institutions.
Given our presence here in New York for the Summit of the Future and the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, I will focus today on the third selected priority: global governance reform.
In this year’s first G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting, in February, the G20 held a thorough discussion on the consequences of certain international tensions to our collective capacity of promoting global governance and on the reform of the main international organizations.
The G20 could never presume to supersede the role played by international organizations; nonetheless, as an informal governance group, it can and must make full use of its platform to lend political support to such organizations in doing their work and in fulfilling their mandates.
In this regard, we must acknowledge that many of the existing international organizations were designed in the 1940s – when the UN had around 50 Member States, for instance – and reflect a global geopolitical reality that no longer exists. For the sake of their legitimacy and effectiveness, it is essential that international organizations update their governance structures and practices to better represent the diversity of their membership and improve their capacity to address today’s challenges.
We see this need to reform in many areas. Among the international financial institutions, it is necessary to promote a more inclusive and representative governance structure in organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. There is a widespread perception that the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are not fit-for-purpose to address the great social and environmental challenges of our time. Together with many other G20 members, Brazil argues for bigger, better, more effective and more representative MDBs that are more responsive to the needs of developing countries.
In the field of international trade, the World Trade Organization faces serious challenges that undermine its effectiveness as the cornerstone of the rules-based Multilateral Trading System. Amidst a resurgence of protectionism, we need to move forward with the WTO reform process, reinforcing its development dimension and reestablishing its dispute settlement pillar.
Furthermore, these discussions cannot disregard the undeniable need for a broader reform of the United Nations itself and its main bodies, such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Peacebuilding Commission.
Distinguished Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Brazil understands that the G20 is not alone in the drive to advance the agenda of global governance reform and the reinvigoration of multilateralism. That is why Brazil’s G20 Presidency took unprecedented steps to promote outreach with other countries and groups this year.
This brings me to the second G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which will take place on Wednesday, September 25th, in the ECOSOC Chamber. The meeting will be the first occasion in which the G20 convenes inside the United Nations Headquarters. Additionally, and once again for the first time in the group’s history, the meeting will be open to all UN Member States. It will also be an opportunity for all UN Members to join their voices in favor of a "Call to Action” aimed at the reform of global governance institutions, with the United Nations at its center.
I would like to take this opportunity to call on all of you – members of the Global Governance Group – to endorse the “Call to Action” on global governance reform, which will issued on Wednesday, so that we can make international organizations fit-for-purpose once again and strengthen them to face the great challenges of our time.
Thank you very much.