Alberto Fernández, at the G20 in India: “We calm our consciences with words, while we continue walking along the ledges”

Alberto Fernández participates in the first session of the G20 summit in India. Behind you can see the chancellor Santiago Cafiero and the general secretary of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello

(Special envoy to New Delhi) Alberto Fernández questioned the political paralysis of the most powerful nations in the face of the social and economic effects of the global crisis, during his last participation in a G20 Summit. “It seems that we calm our consciences with words, while we continue walking along the ledges,” said the president before an audience featuring Joseph Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Justin Trudeau, among other leaders who make up the G7.

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In a G20 conditioned by the geopolitical disputes between the United States and China, Alberto Fernández requested in his speech that CELAC be accepted as a full member of the multilateral forum. Washington and the European Union (EU) have proposed that the African Union join the G20, and the Argentine president took advantage of this diplomatic path to run in favor of CELAC.

As Xi Jinping strengthens the BRICS on a complex international board, Biden and the EU tried to offset this Beijing initiative with the incorporation of the African Union into the G20. Argentina’s proposal would only be accepted at the next summit that Lula da Silva will organize in Brazil.

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“I also celebrate the incorporation of the African Union into this G20. It is a profoundly fair act that allows us to know and attend to the needs of that wonderful continent. I hope that in the future the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which is facing problems similar to those faced by Africa, can join this forum,” said Alberto Fernández.

Following requests from the United States and Europe, the African Union joins as an official member of the G20

Next, the head of state moved against the architecture of the global financial system. Alberto Fernández criticized the economic asymmetries between rich nations and poor and middle-income countries, and disqualified the actions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a global situation affected by climate change and the illegal war that Russia unleashed in Ukraine.

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“Argentina has just suffered the worst drought in the last hundred years. We suffered a drop in exports equivalent to three points of our Gross Domestic Product. “Climate change altered all our plans and the International Monetary Fund, to which we are indebted, clung to its dogmas and proved incapable of innovating with new solutions to face the catastrophe,” the president considered.

Alberto Fernández greets the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, before starting the G20 summit in New Delhi

Midway through his speech, Alberto Fernández emphasized the need to guarantee food security and called for global measures that prevent financial speculation in foreign trade and the imposition of trade barriers raised from central countries to peripheral states.

“Given this situation, we are concerned about hunger and food security. Food security is in crisis because millions of people do not have access to food. And that happens, to a large extent, because we have allowed financial derivatives to contaminate the trade of products necessary for food and turn them into another object of speculation in future markets,” analyzed Alberto Fernández.

And he added: “South America can contribute to satisfying the hunger in the world. But it will not be able to do so if financial speculation interferes or if restrictions, blockades and trade barriers prevail. The huge subsidies provided by a few countries are distorting trade.”

Finally, Alberto Fernández alluded to the war conflict between Russia and Ukraine, initiated by Vladimir Putin and condemned by the international community with the exception of Xi Jinping and the authoritarian regimes of Latin America.

“After the loss of so many lives, violence has broken out in Europe. Peace does not come and a war drags on. Nor does it seem to matter how many more lives ended in that war, ”said the president without citing Vladimir Putin, who could not attend the G20 because he has an arrest warrant after violating international treaties approved at the United Nations.

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