Brazilian president makes the most of G20 summit
Last week’s G20 summit marked a significant moment in world politics. Never before have the leaders of the 20 biggest nations come together under such difficult circumstances.
It was a unique opportunity for the individual leaders to meet, greet, develop a cohesive strategy and gain some positive press coverage.
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva maintained a high profile in the run up to the summit and afterwards, holding talks with the Chinese, French, Argentinean, US and UK leaders to ensure that the interests of his country were well represented during the discussions.
Following the G20, Mr Lula da Silva described how far the South American nation has come in terms of getting its voice heard on an international stage.
“It’s the first meeting in which we weren’t treated as if we didn’t understand anything,” he declared.
Mr Lula da Silva also enjoyed the recommendation of US president Barack Obama, who he had met in March, when the two promised to work together to “coordinate our activities to strengthen global economic growth” in preparation for the G20.
The US leader greeted the Brazilian president thus: “There’s my man, love this guy. Most popular politician on earth!”
Mr Lula also enjoyed centre stage in the official photo with the Queen, sitting next to the left of the royal with Gordon Brown to her right.
Just two hours before the summit, the Brazilian president was in talks with French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, in which they prepared proposals for a new world governance aiming to implement greater regulation of financial markets to prevent a similar future crisis.
Mr Lula told a subsequent press conference that the current turbulence is a “the result of a lack of governance, a lack of responsibility”.
“The meeting will be a meeting of friends, but a difficult meeting, because all the friends do not necessarily think the same way,” he added.
Following his meeting with the French leader, the Brazilian president made another statement, by arriving at the summit by Eurostar train, using a low-carbon form of transport.
Mr Lula also found time for another get-together with the Chinese president Hu Jintao, with both leaders promising to strengthen their countries’ ties following vice president Xi Jinping’s official visit to Brazil earlier in the year.
The two heads of state announced their joint aim to secure a bigger voice for developing countries when it comes to making decisions regarding international economic and financial affairs, according to news agency Xinhua.
Mr Lula also found time to promote his country’s Olympic bid in the aftermath of the summit.
In an interview with the Times, he made a passionate pitch for Rio de Janeiro 2016, saying developing nations have as much right to host big sporting events as the Western world.
“Brazil has one of the most sound economies, that many European countries do not enjoy today. I hope the international community will take that into consideration,” he told the newspaper.
“We know the Games transformed Barcelona and we want to do the same in Brazil. Besides gold medals, we will get the benefits of urban development. We need to make the Olympic world perceive that the South American continent has the right to host a Games,” he asserted.
Mr Lula certainly seemed to make the most of his trip to London and continues to work on increasing the prominence of his country with his zealous speeches and international alliances.
