Framework and Women's Empowerment: WG proposals well received

The first meetings of the G20 Brasil WGs ended on Thursday (18). The Framework and Women's Empowerment Working Groups held technical meetings via videoconference to present their work plans and receive initial impressions from member countries and guests

These were the first two G20 multilateral talks after Brasil presented the forum's presidency priorities for 2024 at the Sherpa and Finance track meetings held in Brasilia in December last year. By February, all the G20 WGs will be presenting and holding initial debates on their work plans.

Inequalities as a central topic

According to Keiti Gomes, coordinator of the Framework WG for the Ministry of Finance, this week's meeting presented an initial working proposal, which places inequality as the central axis, as well as the perspectives of macroeconomics, fair energy transition, and mobilization of capital for investment in the process of transition to a sustainable planet.

"It was a constructive meeting, where all countries were engaged, and the issue of inequalities was understood as a global problem. We had more than 20 countries and international organizations thinking together about how we can build an agenda to reduce inequalities from different perspectives. It's a gain, it's mobilizing and it has transformative potential," said Keiti.

At a press conference, Keiti Gomes and Cynthia Azevedo, coordinator of the WG for the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), revealed that the technical discussions are expected to be inputs for the text that will be taken to the ministerial meeting in São Paulo in February. Gomes explained that, in 2024, one of the WG's focuses is to find ways of transforming the concerns of the member countries into objective economic policies.

"The idea we have is for a menu of policies that could reflect different visions, concerns and ways of addressing the reduction of inequalities to make up our main input to be taken to Finance ministers and Central Bank presidents. It's rich because it's discussed multilaterally. So we have the opportunity to deal with the issue of inequality within a systemic plan debated in a multilateral forum," he revealed.

The next technical meetings of the Framework WG will take place in March, June and September this year.

Women's Empowerment WG

At the end of the second day of the meeting, the group's coordinator, Ísis Táboas, shared the dynamics and topics of this first moment, which focused on the presentation and initial discussion of the work plan for 2024.

Stressing that the meeting was a historic moment, as it was the WG's debut at the G20, the coordinator assessed the videoconference as positive. "A set of products was proposed by the Brazilian presidency and we were fortunate to have broad support from the member countries, who were very enthusiastic about building these products and defining priorities. We have very high expectations. It's a group that has great potential to deliver and advance women's rights," said Isis.

In addition, the coordinator of the Working Group, who is also an advisor to the Ministry of Women, highlighted the quorum, citing the presence of all member countries, as well as guest countries and international organizations, reaching more than 100 foreign delegates between the two days of meetings.

The central topics proposed by the Brazilian coordination to the Women's Empowerment WG were endorsed by the other representations, with only a few proposals for methodological adjustments and the insertion of new objectives within the broad thematic lines. One suggestion was the inclusion of an axis dealing specifically with women's economic autonomy in the international seminar on good care policy practices being planned by the Ministry of Women.

The next meeting will be held on May 8 and 9, also in Brasilia, but in person at the G20 headquarters.