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Transcription from the Video of his speech (transcription by Vizard and translation by CPNN)

Thank you to President Lula and to Brazil for inviting me to this forum.

It is the second time that a Colombian president has been invited, President Santos first and now me.

I want to speak on behalf of a part of Colombian society that I hope will be the majority.

Hunger. If there is no hunger in the south, there is no migration from the south to the north.

Frame from video of speech

Any policy that seeks to put migrants in concentration camps, any programs that seek and hunt migrants to return them to their countries of origin, will fail.

It will fail, it has failed.

The only effective policy to stop the exodus of people from the south to the north is for the south to be more prosperous, to not be hungry. That is the effective policy. And I invite the members of the G20 to practice it with reason and truth, not with hypocrisy.

Every blow to a migrant abroad is simply the recognition of the inability of the rich North to end hunger in humanity.

Ending hunger in humanity requires, in my opinion, three approaches that I want to leave with you.

First is the reject the concept of food security based on countries that export food to the rest of the world based on an intensive use of oil and coal. This has not ended hunger in the world.

Second, I propose to build, instead of the concept of a free world market for food security, the concept of food sovereignty, which consists of being able to produce enough food in countries where there is hunger. That requires a carbon-free agriculture based on the peasantry and the small farmer, not on the large agrarian multinational.

It is the peasantry and the small farmer of each country who should till the land and fulfill its social function as the primary means to feed their own people and the world.

We call this agrarian reform: that the peasantry of the world and the small farmers should have greater power as citizens, with full political and economic rights, as a basic guarantee for a decarbonized agriculture that feeds all citizens, all people in humanity.

Third, I would like to see this meeting go deeper into the topic of artificial intelligence. If artificial intelligence, which is going to expand exponentially, is fed by fossil fuels, oil and coal, it will interact with the climate crisis, deepening it. The climate crisis and artificial intelligence both have enormous potential to increase hunger in the world. Artificial intelligence can put hundreds of millions of workers out of work, and they will go hungry. Hunger in the world will increase if we are not able to at least set two objectives.

The first objective, contrary to someone who spoke here from Latin America, is to create a global public policy regulation of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the accumulated intellect of humanity in the digital cloud. Its privatisation can substantially increase hunger and, as Hawking has said, both with the climate crisis and with artificial intelligence, we have come to the edge of human extinction.

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(Click here for the original speech in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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Only global political regulation, true multilateralism, can overcome the immense danger it represents and put artificial intelligence at the service of human beings and not the other way around.

And a second objective to avoid throwing hundreds of millions of workers into the streets, increasing the exodus and increasing hunger, is a concept conceived in Brazil by sociologists who are now called dishonest, but who are profound thinkers on human problems. The concept is a universal citizen income.

Universal citizen income provides the possibility of ending hunger in the world. It demands that the millions of unemployed workers have something to eat. It leads us to demand a restructuring of international finances that is absolutely essential to overcome the climate crisis being discussed in Azerbaijan today, and to overcome hunger in the world.

I will end with some statements that I want to leave on behalf of a part of Colombian society.

First, the G20 must oppose the genocide in Gaza and call it what it is, without hypocrisy, genocide. If the G20, the powerful of the world, do not oppose genocide, humanity has no future.

Two, all kinds of economic blockades against any people in the world must cease, no matter the regime, because the blockade is a comprehensive and systematic violation of human rights, not of governments, but of human beings.

Three, regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia, I oppose the decision to permit the launch of missiles at Russia. There is no other solution than direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine. Any peace talks that exclude one of the two peoples are only a war conference, not a peace conference. It is the Slavic peoples who must solve their problems and therefore the Russia-Ukraine dialogue must begin in order to achieve peace. Hopefully, it will take place on the basis of the precepts of the Munich agreement that Europe has forgotten.

Finally, I agree with the approach of the Republic of China on building a dialogue between civilizations. The new multilateral dialogue is not an imposition of some over others, but rather a global planetary democracy, and that implies, given human diversity, the recognition of this diversity and the construction of a dialogue between civilizations and not a confrontation, as Huntington said in the United States. I do not believe, and I have to say it here publicly, in something in that regard that was expressed at this conference.

I am a progressive, a radical democrat and a socialist. And I believe and am proud of it.

It is common struggle and human solidarity that has kept us alive on this planet since day one when we got together to hunt animals to eat, when we got together to make a bonfire to warm ourselves on cold nights.

We are not a society of individual atoms competing with each other. That is not the case even for the least intelligent animals.

We can only survive on this planet, overcome hunger, disease, inequality, overcome war, overcome the climate crisis, which is the main problem we face today, and put artificial intelligence to our service, if we help each other, if we are supportive, if we are a community, if we have common objectives, if we have common purposes and if we help each other.

Competition between human beings and nations has only brought us to the brink of
extinction.

The possibility of building a diverse civilization of humanity, even beyond this planet, taking care of this planet, depends on us helping each other, on us being supportive, and on us embracing the fact that the human species is a community.

Thank you, again, President Lula, for your very kind invitation.
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An article from the G20

President Lula’s Speech At The Closing Session Of The G20 Summit (official English translation).

Today, Brazil completes the penultimate stage of a four-year sequence in which developing countries have occupied the leadership of the G20.

Indonesia, India, Brazil, and, now, South Africa bring to the table perspectives that are of interest to the vast majority of the world’s population.

Starting in Bali, passing through New Delhi, and arriving in Rio de Janeiro, we strive to promote measures that have a concrete impact on people’s lives.

Video of speech with English interpretation

We launched a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and began an unprecedented debate on taxing the super-rich.

We put climate change on the agendas of Finance Ministries and central banks and approved the first multilateral document on the bioeconomy.

We issued a Call to Action for reforms that make global governance more effective and representative, and we engage in dialogue with society through the G20 Social.

We launched a roadmap to make multilateral development banks better, bigger, and more effective and gave African countries a voice in the debt debate.

We established the Women’s Empowerment Working Group and proposed an eighteenth Sustainable Development Goal to promote racial equality.

We defined key trade and sustainable development principles and committed to tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030.

We created a Coalition for Local and Regional Production of Vaccines and Medicines and decided to expand financing for water and sanitation infrastructure.

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(Click here for the original speech in Portuguese.)

Questions related to this article:

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We welcome events from the World Health Organization’s Investment Round, believing that more resources are needed to collectively respond to new and persistent health challenges.

We approved a Strategy to Promote Cooperation in Open Innovation and address asymmetries in scientific and technological production. We also decided to establish a task force on the governance of artificial intelligence at the G20.

This year, we held more than 140 meetings across 15 Brazilian cities.

We once again adopted consensus statements in almost all working groups.

We left a lesson: that the greater the interaction between the Sherpa and Finance tracks, the greater and more significant the results of our work will be.

We worked hard, even though we knew we had only scratched the surface of the world’s profound challenges.

After the South African presidency, all G20 countries will have exercised group leadership at least once.

This will be an opportune moment to evaluate the role we have played so far and how we should act from now on.

We have a responsibility to do better.

It is with this hope that I pass the gavel of the G20 presidency to President Ramaphosa.

This is not an ordinary handover of the presidency — it is the concrete expression of the historical, economic, social, and cultural ties that unite Latin America and Africa.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Brazilian presidency, especially those who worked to make our achievements possible.

I wish our comrade Ramaphosa every success in leading the G20. South Africa can count on Brazil to exercise a presidency surpassing our achievements.

I remember the words of another great South African, Nelson Mandela, who said: it is easy to demolish and destroy; the heroes are those who build.

Let us continue building a just world and a sustainable planet.

Thank you very much.

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An article by Pablo Guillén & Emilio Dorantes Galeana for the Wilson Center (abridged)

The 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro summit is the nineteenth meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20), a Heads of State and Government meeting taking place in Rio de Janeiro from 18–19 November 2024.  

Sheinbaum speaking to the G20
The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). The group works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, through annual meetings of Heads of State and Heads of Government. 

The 19 official member countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and United States. Although there are also guest countries in every meeting.   . . .

This is President Sheinbaum’s first international appearance since taking office in October. Her participation in the G20 summit represents Mexico’s reengagement with major international forums after years of withdrawal under former President López Obrador. Sheinbaum criticized the rise in global military spending and advocated for increased investment in reforestation programs. She argued that allocating just 1% of global military spending to reforestation programs could significantly impact poverty, migration, and climate change mitigation. 

“What is happening in our world when, in just two years, spending on weapons has grown almost three times as much as the world economy? How is it that the economy of destruction has reached an expenditure of more than $2.4 trillion? How is it that 700 million people in the world still live below the poverty line?” Sheinbaum began her participation with these questions, to give way to the general philosophy of her proposal: “I come on behalf of a generous, supportive and wise people to call on the great nations to build and not to destroy. To forge peace, fraternity and equality. Call us idealists, but I prefer that to being conformists.” 

“I belong to a generation that fought against repression, authoritarianism, for social justice and democracy, and I come from a great people who decided to establish, through peaceful means, a new history for my country,” she said. “Since our political project began in 2018, Mexico has been building a new course […]. The dogma of neoliberal faith, that the market resolves everything, has been left behind.”  

Sheinbaum repeated one of the major slogans of her predecessor López Obrador: “For the good of all, the poor first.” Furthermore, Sheinbaum highlighted the success of the Sembrando Vida program, which was presented by the Mexican government to the United States as a tool to mitigate migratory flows. “We allocate $1.7 billion each year to support 439,000 families in Mexico, and 40,000 in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In six years, more than one million hectares have been reforested, with the planting of 1.1 billion trees.”

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Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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The idea includes a global commitment to the summit’s goals. “With this, we would help mitigate global warming and restore the social fabric by helping communities get out of poverty. The proposal is to stop sowing wars and instead sow peace and sow life.” 

Key Highlights of Mexico´s Proposal: 

° Ambitious Scale: The initiative would reforest 15 million hectares an area four times the size of Denmark or equivalent to all of Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador combined. 

° Job Creation: It aims to employ 6 million tree planters, offering livelihoods to vulnerable communities while combating environmental degradation. 

° Inspiration: Sheinbaum cited Mexico’s Sembrando Vida program as a proven model, which supports rural families with wages and technical training, resulting in the planting of over 1 billion trees and the capture of 30 million tons of CO₂ annually. 

Private dialogues and meetings 

President Sheinbaum held private dialogues with the representatives of France, Vietnam, Colombia, China, Canada and the United States. Likewise, she held a group meeting with representatives from Chile, Colombia and Brazil.  

° Emmanuel Macron (France): Both presidents agreed to cooperate on key issues, including water management, healthcare, and infrastructure development. They also committed to jointly promoting gender equality, emphasizing its importance as a global priority.  

° Pham Minh Chinh (Vietnam): Both leaders agreed to strengthen cultural ties between Mexico and Vietnam.  

° Gustavo Preto (Colombia): Both presidents highlighted the strength of the relationship between Mexico and Colombia, based on cooperation, trade and the deep cultural ties that unite both countries. 

° Xi Jinping (China): Both leaders discussed Mexico and China´s relationship and the investment space that the Asian country has, considering the trade agreement (USMCA) that Mexico has with North America. Moreover, Sheinbaum expressed gratitude for China’s support in aiding Acapulco’s recovery after the devastating hurricane it faced.  

° Justin Trudeau (Canada): Both leaderscelebrated the strong relationship between their peoples and governments. They also acknowledged the importance and positive impact of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on the region.

° Joe Biden (United States): Both presidents discussed key bilateral issues. According to a statement from the White House, the two leaders emphasized the need to maintain cooperation on migration, security, and combating transnational criminal violence. They also addressed economic matters, stating the strength of the US-Mexico bilateral partnership as a key element for mutual progress. Also at the meeting, President Sheinbaum asked President Biden for information on the capture of drug-lord Jesus “El Mayo” Zambada.

° Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and Gabriel Boric (Chile): In the joint meeting the four presidents agreed on the importance of working together as the Latin-American progressive governments and spoke of the importance of maintaining such relationships. 

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An announcment from the Cuban Diplomatic Repesentation (abbreviated)

With everyone and for the benefit of all
”
For dialogue between civilizations and for a culture of peace

January 28 – 31, 2025, Havana, Cuba

Following the high level of attendance at the preceding edition (2023) – over 1,100 delegates from 89 countries – the José Martí International Solidarity Project announces the planned holding of the 6th International Conference FOR WORLD BALANCE, in Havana on January 28-31, 2025.

The event is open to writers, historians, journalists, artists, politicians, economists, scientists and intellectuals in general; to representatives of social and solidarity movements, trade union and religious leaders; members of NGOs and scientific, feminist, youth, rural workers’ and ecological organizations and all people of good will who care about the defense of social justice, evenhanded development, dialogue and peace; who share the finer feelings of solidarity and the desire to build a better world.


This world forum of pluralistic and multidisciplinary thinking is supported and co-sponsored by UNESCO, the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science & Culture, the Fundación Cultura de Paz (Spain), Soka Gakkai International, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and other international, regional and domestic institutions.



The conference will take place at a time when mankind is progressing towards new bases of organization of the world system, in the context of a transition in civilization which transcends the legacy of colonialism, hegemonism and unipolarity to make multilateralism and the sustainability of human development its basic aim.  

The International Conferences FOR WORLD BALANCE have become important academic/scientific platforms of various branches of knowledge – notably the social and human sciences – attended by hundreds of educators, researchers, social activists and intellectuals from every latitude who are invited, regardless of their origin, culture, political stance, or religious beliefs, to ponder the main problems of the times, pursue common aims conducive to unity of global action, and convince international public opinion that dialogue should prevail over war, love over hate, solidarity over egoism … in short, to disseminate ideas and awareness for building a better world – more just and at peace, so that we can look to the future with hope rather than apprehension.


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(Click here for a Spanish version of the announcement)

Questions related to this article:

Does Cuba promote a culture of peace?

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This world conference will take place in the year of the 130th anniversary of the death on the battlefield of José Martí, the master spirit of Cuban independence, a great philosopher whose profoundly humanist output of extraordinary longevity inspires efforts to bring about sustainable development; social justice; the elimination of poverty; access to public health, education and culture; the affirmation of international cooperation, of multilateralism, of respect for the rights of others, of dialogue and of peace.


The event will be the setting for the creation of meaningful relations between people of good will, for conferring greater visibility and substance to the struggle for the common ideal of making the world a better place and saving life on Earth; old and new friends will meet in the search for unity of global action to raise awareness within international public opinion; working experiences will be shared, views expressed with the utmost respect and in a setting entirely free of sectarianism. The gathering is also seen as a continuance of the International Conferences on the Dialogue of Civilizations and the debates at the World Humanities Conference held in Liège, Belgium, under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Council for Philosophy & Human Sciences. 


Fundamental questions will be addressed in committees, panels, workshops, meetings, symposiums, specialized sessions, keynote speeches, special addresses and other modes of reflection and debate, as expected of an event of this nature and scale; the results will be published as papers for distribution to universities, other seats of learning and research institutions and made available on the social networks.

(Editor’s note: According to an email received at CPNN from World Beyond War, one of the events at the conference will be an event called “Building a World Beyond War,” on January 30th co-organized by CODEPINK, International Peace Bureau, People’s Human Rights Observatory, GAMIP, Kavilando, Black Alliance for Peace, Veterans For Peace, Jose Martí Project, and World BEYOND War.


For details on the themes of the agenda, submission of papers and registration for the conference, see the conference website.)

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