Worst G20 in years ends with whimper as host cancels final press conference

Rio de Janeiro: A sudden end to the G20 leaders’ summit has left observers wondering what the meeting achieved after host country Brazil cancelled the key event meant to sum up its results.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cancelled the final press conference two hours after it was due to begin amid doubts about outcomes on climate change and global hunger.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (front, second from right) at the final G20 photocall.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The summit ended without solutions to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, highlighting the gulf between the major powers in their last meeting before Donald Trump takes office as United States president.

“This G20 summit will go down in the history books,” one official told the Bloomberg news service. “But definitely not as a shining example.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese left the host city of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday afternoon, local time, in the hope of returning to Canberra on Thursday — after losing a day due to travel — so he can attend question time in parliament.

Albanese said his meetings at the G20 and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit had produced results for Australia.

Albanese emphasised his face-to-face talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rather than the summit sessions with leaders speaking as a group.

Xi used his meeting with Albanese to talk up the “turnaround” in China’s relations with Australia. Estimates say the improved relationship has restored $20 billion in annual Australian exports.

When leaders assembled for the official “family photo” at the summit, Albanese held casual conversations with his counterparts.

The prime minister stood with Xi for the photo and the two had a brief conversation that appeared to overcome the language barrier — Xi has conducted his formal meetings with Albanese purely in Mandarin.

Albanese also appeared to share banter with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The final set-piece photo of the summit was organised more efficiently than a bigger group photo on the first day. This time, US President Joe Biden made it to the group on time.

Biden put his arm around Modi and brought Trudeau into the conversation — a diplomatic move when India and Canada are at odds over Canadian claims that Indian officials arranged the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist killed in Vancouver in June.

The G20 leaders issued a declaration on Monday to commit to tackling global hunger and climate change. They also expressed concern at the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

There was no further progress on the key issues on Tuesday, and Reuters reported that German President Olaf Scholz expressed his regret that the declaration was issued before there was more time given to what it said.

The Brazilian president, known as Lula, cancelled the final press conference two hours after it was scheduled to be held in a sudden shift from the usual G20 practice of summing up the outcomes.

The president’s office said he had to leave Rio de Janeiro to get to the capital, Brasilia, for a visit by Xi.

The unusual end to the conference added to a sense of disorganisation after Biden missed the group photo on Monday.

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron at G20. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Opinions about the Rio summit were also shaped by treatment of reporters covering the event, who faced long queues and two x-ray security checkpoints to get to the media centre, where toilets overflowed.

Lula issued a strong call for action on climate change during the final session with the national leaders, hoping to add momentum to negotiations at a United Nations climate summit meant to end this week in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

“We worked hard, but we only scratched the surface of the deep challenges that the world has to face,” he said in the final session of the gathering.

While Lula and others wanted a deal on climate finance to help get an outcome in Baku, wealthier nations are at odds with developing ones about whether every country must contribute to a climate plan that requires financial pledges from each nation.

Brazil is due to host the UN climate summit next year, 30 years after the UN Conference of the Parties held a summit in Rio de Janeiro that began the annual climate talks.

The outcome in Rio de Janeiro this week made no commitments about phasing out fossil fuels but talked of increasing climate finance “from billions to trillions” to invest in renewable energy.

G20 members include oil producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, making it challenging to get a consensus on climate.

On Ukraine, the summit ended with no move beyond the declaration issued on Monday, which expressed concern at the loss of lives but made no criticism of Russia for launching the invasion in February 2022.

The declaration on the Middle East did not mention the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 last year, which triggered Israel’s military response.

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