Lula meets with the president of South Africa

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met this Sunday, November 17, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, who will take on the G20 Presidency after Brazil. This was the first bilateral meeting with a head of State coming to the G20 Summit.

Also in attendance were the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira; Finance, Fernando Haddad; Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro; and Management and Innovation, Esther Dweck. The Special Advisor to the President, Celso Amorim, and the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Development and Industry, Márcio Elias Rosa, were also present.

President Lula reported on the G20 Social meeting and its work, and asked that South Africa continue with the practices inaugurated by the Brazilian Presidency.

Lula and Ramaphosa also discussed strategies to resume the IBSA meetings, a group composed by Brazil, India, and South Africa, three democracies from different continents in the Global South. Furthermore, they spoke about Brazil's presidency of the BRICS and the group's meeting scheduled for next year in Brazil.

The South African president guaranteed the continuation of Brazil’s efforts at the G20. And Brazil offered to share all of its experience in the presidency of the G20 with South Africa.

The two presidents also discussed financing environmental conservation and related topics under discussion in environmental forums, as well as the proposal to impose a 2% tax on the world’s 3,000 wealthiest individuals, who collectively possess a net worth of 15 trillion dollars