"The main thing to highlight is that all participants in the meeting recognized that there are challenges to ensuring that we have sustainable and inclusive growth in the short, medium and long term. The challenges are of various orders", Vera Daves de Sousa told Lusa.
"Geopolitical tensions, that was what was most talked about, and conflicts that arise from these tensions, increasingly a feeling of protectionism in which some economies are closing, climate challenges and how balances are generated between the economies involved and the emerging economies", she added.
The minister said that participants at the G20 meeting, in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, exchanged experiences on issues linked to economic and social inequalities, "how these inequalities are addressed and, at the same time, the weight of debt in some of the countries where these inequalities are present".
Vera Daves recalled that the demographic issue was also another important topic in one sense, for some countries, in another sense, for others, who debated how countries grow, how jobs are created, how prosperity is ensured in a such a polarized world.
"It was not possible to have a final communiqué, a sign of this polarization and lack of consensus, so there was a lot of discussion at the level of economic fundamentals and what should be done. We now agree on how to prevent geopolitical tensions from prevent this agenda from being addressed", highlighted however the Minister of Finance.
Among the subdivisions of debate themes, the representative of the Angolan Government highlighted the fact that her counterparts had looked at taxation and how progressive taxation is ensured, or how tax evasion is mitigated, how to broaden the tax base, ways of dealing with the digital economy and the taxation of virtual currencies.
"The challenge now will be, even more so in the absence of the final communiqué, how will everything that was discussed materialize into commitments and concrete actions", she said.
Vera Daves also commented, in the exclusive interview with Lusa, on the bilateral meeting she held with the Minister of Finance of Portugal, Fernando Medina, on the sidelines of the G20 meetings.
"Portugal has been financing a number of projects in Angola and the meeting was basically to take stock of how these projects are progressing and what, both the Portuguese Ministry of Finance and the Angolan Ministry of Finance, can do to ensure that processes that are not moving as fast as we would like, move faster", she said, without elaborating.
"The conversation was positive. With Minister Medina things always move forward, he is very pragmatic", she concluded.
Brazil, which assumed the presidency of the G20 on December 1, 2023, was the host of the summit organized on February 28 and 29, which brought together those responsible for the Finance portfolios of the 20 largest economies in the world, including also the European Union and the African Union.
The meeting, also attended by the governors of the Central Banks (without the presence of Mário Centeno) took place in a volatile global context, marked by new geopolitical tensions and in the midst of a debate on the pace of monetary easing, following the rise in post-pandemic inflation.
The priorities of the Brazilian presidency for its mandate are the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality, sustainable development and the reform of global governance.
Brazil invited Portugal, Angola, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Nigeria, Norway and Singapore to be G20 observers in 2024.
