G20 prepares joint session between Sherpas and civil society

In an unprecedented way, the Brazilian presidency of the forum will ensure that G20 Social organizations are heard by the G20 sherpas at a meeting scheduled for July in Rio de Janeiro. This is Brasil’s initiative to create a space for civil society to participate in debates between the world's largest economies.

The G20 will include a meeting between the sherpas of the member countries and civil society organizations of the G20 Social, in July, in Rio de Janeiro. This is the first time in history that the forum has held a session of this nature. According to Mauricio Lyrio, the Brazilian sherpa, the engagement groups will present contributions to the representatives, which may compose the document that will be analyzed by the forum leaders in November.

"There has never been a dedicated session at the G20 for governments to receive their contributions directly from the engagement groups. So we will have this and, fortunately, Brasil’s proposal was widely supported. I received endorsement from all my colleagues for us to hold this joint session, which will be attended by everyone in Rio de Janeiro," said Lyrio. 

At a press conference on the second meeting of the G20 sherpas, which took place this week in Brasilia via videoconference, Lyrio also said that the group had begun the process of preparing the Leaders' Declaration, which will guide the discussions of the heads of government and State at the summit." It's a process that is part of the diplomatic negotiation of a process that has also lasted a year and that we hope will have a good end, a good result, a good port at the leaders' meeting," he declared.

The sherpas are personal emissaries of the G20 leaders, who oversee the negotiations, discuss the items that make up the summit's agenda and coordinate most of the forum's work.

Financing to fight hunger 

The Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty was also discussed by the G20 Sherpas, with regard to international commitments and the identification of successful public policies. Although the issue of financing actions to combat inequalities is the subject of the Finance Track, Lyrio anticipated that there will be a ministerial meeting in April in Washington, USA, specifically to discuss the financial mechanisms for global mobilization, under the leadership of Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.

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