Exclusive | Brazil, hosting G20 in November, seeks a ‘simpler, objective’ final leaders’ declaration
- Rio de Janeiro city summit coordinator says Brazil’s objective is a statement ‘structured differently than in previous years’ that can avoid disputes among member nations
Brazil, host of this year’s Group of 20 meetings, hopes to reach a much simpler consensus when the leaders of member nations convene in Rio de Janeiro in November, in a bid to avoid a breakdown in talks due to disagreements among great powers.
Lucas Padilha, Rio de Janeiro’s chief of staff and the city’s coordinator for the summit, said that Brazil’s aim was to create a G20 declaration “certainly structured differently than in previous years” by inviting organisations representing environmental and other civic interests to discuss pressing issues with the “sherpas”, as each country’s negotiators are called.
He said Brasilia hoped to produce a` final document “that is much simpler, more accessible and more direct … that does not have to be 30 pages long to show that good work has been done”.
In particular, he said, a focus of local interest would be making it easier for the world’s biggest cities to gain access to a global fund to help them adapt to climate change.
Traditionally, the G20 leaders’ declarations usually average between 20 and 30 pages.