[Brazil Flag, Photo Credit to Pixabay]

The 19th G20 Summit was hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from November 18 to 19 (local time), with the theme "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet." 

Leaders of the G20 member countries and the African Union (AU), which had formally joined last year, were in attendance. 

However, the meeting concluded without achieving any significant results.

The summit, which was held on the day of US President-elect Donald Trump's return to office, reiterated the participants' common commitment to preserving free trade systems and battling hunger and poverty. 

Nevertheless, leaders failed to reach a consensus on crucial topics such as paying for the climate catastrophe and reducing geopolitical tensions. 

Analysts suggest  Trump's influence overshadowed the discussions, hindering agreements on climate-related accords.

According to the Financial Times, Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump loyalist, opposed the Paris Agreement- an international convention to address climate change- at the conference.

Milei reportedly objected to particular language in the joint communiqué calling for tangible climate change efforts, according to Brazilian media agencies. 

Milei, who has dismissed  the climate catastrophe a "lie," aligns  with Trump's claim that climate change is a "hoax." 

Furthermore, El País noted Argentina’s rejection of wealth taxes, mirroring Trump's campaign pledge of tax reduction for the wealthiest.

In a rare step, the summit published a unified proclamation on its opening day, November 18. 

According to the local station G1, this initiative, apparently supported by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, drew criticism from EU member states.

The leaders of the world's leading economies expressed serious concerns regarding the growth of protectionism expected during Trump's second term. 

G20 nations pledged to uphold a rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, sustainable, and transparent multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to counter threats to the global trade order.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to expand policies of "unilateral opening" to the least developed countries. 

In  bilateral negotiations with Western governments, Xi encouraged others to join the "developing China express train." 

Xi also tried to strengthen economic ties with nations in the "Global South," including Brazil, South Africa, and the AU, with an emphasis on spreading technological innovation and forging coalitions to resist Trump's projected policies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who represents President Vladimir Putin, warned that the West's "war against Russia" had reached a new phase and pledged an adequate reaction before returning to Moscow.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called  for an immediate cessation ofRussia-North Korea military cooperation. 

According to the South Korean Presidential Office, he urged the global community to acknowledge the illegality of such activities and work collectively to put them to an end.

Despite Brazilian President Lula’s  efforts to spotlight crucial topics such as the climate disaster and poverty reduction, he had minimal success, with the summit ending with disappointing outcomes.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden, who is slated to leave office in January, had an odd occurrence when he arrived late and missed the group photograph. 

His declaration of long-range missile support for Ukraine garnered minimal notice, prompting some to view it as a purposeful undermining of the lame-duck president.

Many now assume that President Trump will take on the responsibility for settling the Ukraine-Russia issue.

Next year’s G20 Summit is scheduled to take place in South Africa.