On November 11 and 12, 2024, researchers, academics, and members of the G20 community gathered at Rio de Janeiro’s Itamaraty Palace to participate in the T20 Brasil Summit. The event, which marked the conclusion of this year’s edition of one of the G20’s most relevant civil society engagement groups, celebrated the work conducted by the 6 thematic Task Forces as well as National and International Advisory Councils, spearheaded by the Organizing Committee, since December 2023 and their efforts to positively influence, subsidize and direct/orient the G20 process during the Brazilian Presidency. This marked Brazil’s first time hosting such a premier multilateral forum, overcoming even the historic Earth Summit of 1992.
Much like the G20, T20 Brasil sought to work around six thematic priorities, aligned with the Brazilian government’s key areas of work and beyond, building recommendations and implementation strategies between the 179 international institutions that made this process possible. Building on the legacies of T20 Indonesia and T20 India, T20 Brasil delivered 40 policy recommendations and 14 implementation roadmaps to the G20 process, demonstrating the depth/robustness of civil society engagement and capacity to subsidize the G20 process in Brazil, South Africa, and beyond.
The Summit, held just one week before the Leaders’ Summit, also in Rio, sought to gather T20 Brasil members, G20 officials, other representatives from the public and private sector, and other stakeholders part of the community. By further developing an innovative approach to addressing implementation challenges – the overarching theme of the second semester of work – the Summit sought to facilitate an expanded dialogue between T20 network think tanks and experts with practical experience in implementing public policy, strengthening the link between academic thinking and decision-making processes – with each Task Force having its own dedicated breakout session to discuss in depth the main issues related to its focus theme.
This report seeks to synthesize and highlight the main outcomes of the discussions held in each of the task force’s breakout sessions and the closing panels that sought to reflect on the successive Global South presidencies and introduce South Africa’s leadership of the forum, culminating in the official handover ceremony that marked the end of T20 Brasil.
The T20 Brasil Summit was attended by more than 175 guests representing 115 different institutions from 27 countries on 4 continents. This report hopes to summarize the discussions held on November 11 and 12, and subsidize the continued work of T20 in South Africa and contribute to civil society engagement towards a more democratic global governance system.
The T20 Brasil Organizing Committee wishes to our South African colleagues the best of luck with their presidency and reiterates its dedication to continue engaged in the T20 efforts throughout their presidency.
Click HERE to access the T20 Brasil Summit Synthesis Report.