“For decades, the nations of the world have been dealing with global governance institutions created after World War II, but with the profound changes that have been taking place in the world over the past eight decades, they need to adapt to new realities,” said João Lourenço before representatives from around 30 countries and a dozen international organizations, who are in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro to participate in the XVII Summit of BRICS Heads of State and Government.
For him, the BRICS bloc can “play a relevant and active role in building greater balance in the discussion on issues related to global governance, between the Global South and developed countries.”
The head of state also highlighted the “urgency and importance of working towards the goal of strengthening multilateralism, which is increasingly threatened in current times.”
Once again, he stressed, the bloc of emerging countries has a “decisive and fundamental role to play in rebalancing the approach to the global economic order, in which issues related to trade based on fairer foundations, investment and financing in less burdensome ways for those most in need stand out”.
Hours before this statement, the Brazilian head of state, Lula da Silva, made harsh criticisms at the opening of the BRICS summit regarding the “unparalleled collapse of multilateralism”, reinforcing the importance of reforming the UN Security Council.
Lula da Silva also made harsh criticisms of the UN Security Council, which “lately is not even consulted before the start of military actions” and whose meetings only lead to further “loss of credibility and paralysis”.
"To overcome the crisis of confidence we are facing, we need to profoundly transform the Security Council" by including new permanent members from Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, he said, stressing that this reform is essential to "guarantee the very survival of the UN".
Lula da Silva received BRICS leaders in Rio de Janeiro for the group's annual summit, marked by the absence of presidents such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, in a summit that has around 30 countries represented and a dozen international organizations.
Putin participates via videoconference, after declining Lula da Silva's invitation because he is under arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes committed during the war in Ukraine, and will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
More surprising is the absence of Xi Jinping of China, who has been a constant participant in previous summits, and will be replaced by Prime Minister Li Qiang.
The summit focused on four main themes: reforming the organizations that govern the international order, promoting multilateralism, fighting hunger and poverty, and promoting sustainable development, in a bloc that represents more than 40 percent of the global population and more than 35 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
