G7: Lula, in a speech, criticizes rich countries and defends UN reform

Lula government

The president completed by suggesting that the global financial system has to be at the service of production, work and employment.

Hiroshima (Japan) – In a speech at the G7, this Saturday (20), in Hiroshima, Japan, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized rich countries and antagonistic blocs, as well as defended a reform in the UN Security Council.

Lula began by thanking Prime Minister Kishida for the invitation and mentioned that this is the 7th time he has been invited to the meeting.

Criticism of rich countries

The president criticized the protectionism of rich countries and stated that there is a “weakening of the multilateral trading system”.

“The world today is experiencing the overlapping of multiple crises: the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, geopolitical tensions, a war in the heart of Europe, pressures on food and energy security and threats to democracy. To face these threats, there needs to be a change of mentality. It is necessary to debunk myths and abandon paradigms that have collapsed”.

The PT concluded by suggesting that the global financial system has to be at the service of production, work and employment, in order to have sustainable growth “for the benefit of the real economy”.

“The foreign indebtedness of many countries, which victimized Brazil in the past and today devastates Argentina, is the cause of blatant and growing inequality, and requires a treatment from the International Monetary Fund that considers the social consequences of adjustment policies”, he says in another snippet.

antagonistic blocks

For Lula, no country can face the “current systemic threats” in isolation. The solution “does not lie in the formation of antagonistic blocs or responses that include only a small number of countries”.

“This will be particularly important in this context of transition to a multipolar order, which will require profound changes in institutions.”

Reform of the UN Security Council

At the end, the president defended a reform of the UN Security Council.

“Coalitions are not an end in themselves, and serve to leverage initiatives in plural spaces such as the UN system and its partner organizations. Without reform of its Security Council, with the inclusion of new permanent members, the UN will not regain the effectiveness, political and moral authority to deal with the conflicts and dilemmas of the 21st century”.

*With information from IstoÉ

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