For Lula, despite the challenges outlined, there are paths forward that can help reverse inequalities. - Credit: Ricardo Stuckert / PR

The pursuit of a new international solidarity capable of reducing inequalities between developed and developing countries guided President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's participation in the G7 Summit on June 16 and 17 in Évian-les-Bains, France.

Invited by the French Presidency of the group, Lula took part in three discussion sessions with G7 leaders and invited countries. The debates focused on rebuilding international cooperation, resuming balanced, shared, and sustainable economic growth, and ensuring the safe and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence.

Throughout the two-day summit, the President advocated greater investment in Global South economies, reform of the international financial system, the industrialization of countries that possess critical minerals, the regulation of digital platforms, and multilateral governance of artificial intelligence. Lula also presented Brazilian initiatives aimed at combating hunger, preserving forests, protecting children and adolescents online, and preparing for future pandemics.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY –On Tuesday, June 16, during the session dedicated to forging new partnerships and rebuilding international solidarity, Lula warned of the widening gap between wealthy nations and developing countries.

"The challenges are multiplying, but international solidarity is shrinking. The gap between the prosperity of Évian and the reality faced by billions of people in the Global South is not narrowing," he said.

The President recalled that Official Development Assistance declined by 23 percent last year, while international organizations responsible for food security, health, and child protection saw their budgets reduced. In contrast, he noted, global military spending approached USD 3 trillion annually.

"These are not abstract figures. They directly affect the daily lives of people in developing countries. They mean millions of people without access to adequate food, children unable to attend school, women deprived of protection, and vulnerable communities exposed to preventable diseases," he stated.

Lula noted that developing countries transfer approximately USD 1.4 trillion annually in debt service payments, an amount seven times greater than the assistance they receive from the world's wealthiest economies. The President argued that it is necessary to build a financial system in which governments are not forced to choose between paying creditors and ensuring food, healthcare, and education for their populations.

Lula also criticized the effects of market deregulation, fiscal austerity, and the shrinking role of the State on economic inequalities and democratic institutions. According to the President, protectionism and unilateralism do not offer adequate responses to the complexity of today's international challenges.

As examples of initiatives capable of expanding cooperation, the President highlighted debt-for-climate and debt-for-social-investment swaps, the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF), the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, and the International Panel on Inequality proposed by South Africa's G20 Presidency.

In the same intervention, Lula emphasized the importance of institutional cooperation in combating transnational organized crime. The President welcomed the G7 declaration on combating drug trafficking, but stressed that narcotics trafficking must be addressed alongside crimes such as money laundering and arms trafficking, including through cooperation with INTERPOL.

CRITICAL MINERALS–On Wednesday, June 17, Lula participated in the session entitled "Resuming Balanced, Shared and Sustainable Economic Growth for the Benefit of All." During the discussion, the President argued that international prosperity must be expanded through productive investment, job creation, and income growth in developing countries.

Explaining Brazil's position later, Lula stated that wealthier economies need to contribute to the creation of new consumer markets in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

"To become consumers, people need investment, they need jobs, and they need wages," the President summarized during the press conference he held following the summit.

Lula also advocated international partnerships for the development of rare earths and critical minerals, provided that countries possessing those reserves participate in the higher value-added stages of the production chains.

"The more countries are interested in investing in our countries, buying our products, and contributing by participating in the extraction, industrialization, and processing of rare earths and critical minerals, as long as it takes place within our countries, the more welcome they are," he said.

The President stressed that Brazil does not intend to repeat economic models based solely on exporting natural resources.

"We do not want to repeat the gold cycle, when everything was taken away and we were left with nothing. The same happened during the iron ore cycle, when we exported everything and very little industrialization took place in Brazil," he stated.

PROTECTION OF MINORS –Lula also advocated safeguards to protect children, adolescents, women, and workers in the digital environment. The issue was discussed during a working lunch on artificial intelligence and the protection of minors online.

"Regulating the digital environment is essential to safeguarding fundamental rights," he stated.

The President acknowledged the benefits of artificial intelligence for productivity, public services, healthcare, and food and energy security, but warned of the risks associated with the use of these technologies in autonomous weapons, disinformation campaigns, hate speech, child sexual exploitation, image manipulation, and violence against women and girls.

"The engagement of major technology companies is indispensable to ensuring that the digital future is built and experienced in a safe, ethical manner and in the public interest," he said.

Lula presented to the leaders measures adopted by Brazil, including the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents, which establishes responsibilities for companies that offer digital products and services to children and adolescents.

"We are ensuring that our children and adolescents can be online safely. We are cracking down on criminals who threaten the physical and mental integrity of our children and adolescents," he stated.

The President cited data indicating that one in five Brazilian children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 has been subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse in the digital environment. He also noted that 8.8 million Brazilian women have been victims of some form of online violence, including threats, harassment, or account hacking.

Lula further warned that artificial intelligence could deepen international inequalities. While major technology companies have attained valuations comparable to those of entire national economies, approximately 2.6 billion people still remain without internet access, he said.

"Without deliberate action, artificial intelligence can widen—rather than reduce—inequalities," he stated.

Defending an inclusive global governance framework for technology, the President reiterated the role of the United Nations and of the international mechanisms already established to address the issue.

"No forum can replace the universality of the United Nations," he said.

Brazil, he added, advocates a system that recognizes different national trajectories and ensures that artificial intelligence strengthens democracy, social cohesion, and national sovereignty.

PANDEMIC AGREEMENT–Brazil's participation in the G7 was also marked by efforts to secure the conclusion of the Global Pandemic Agreement. On the eve of the expanded sessions, Lula and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, released a joint open letter to the leaders of the world's largest economies.

"The world needs to finish what it started," they wrote.

Brazil chairs the negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex, a necessary step for the entry into force of the agreement approved in 2025. The proposal provides that countries that rapidly share information and samples of agents with pandemic potential should also have access to the vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and other technologies developed from those materials.

"We made a promise to the millions we lost and to the families who still feel their absence. May we be the generation that fulfills that promise," Lula and Tedros wrote in the letter

FINAL ASSESSMENT–Following the conclusion of the summit, Lula held a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, and presented an assessment of the positions defended by Brazil.

"For me, every G7 meeting is an opportunity to discuss with developed countries both the balance and the imbalances in the political, economic, and social order, taking into account technological advances, the debate on artificial intelligence, and the needs of each country," he said.

The President once again argued that economic growth should be distributed internationally, not by reducing the standard of living in developed economies, but by creating conditions for other countries to expand production, generate jobs, and enlarge their consumer markets.

At the press conference, Lula also highlighted Brazil's experience in protecting children and adolescents, citing restrictions on the use of mobile phones in schools and the approval of the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents.

At the close of the summit, Brazil endorsed three of the eight declarations negotiated by G7 members: the declaration on child safety in the digital space, the declaration on cooperation in combating cancer, and the declaration on international cooperation against narcotics trafficking.

According to Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira, the three themes reflect Brazilian priorities and areas in which the country can contribute experiences and public policies.

MEETINGS AGENDA –On the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Lula met with French President Emmanuel Macron; Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; Swiss President Guy Parmelin; President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen; President of the European Council António Costa; and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

During his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, it was announced that Japan and Mercosur will launch negotiations during the Mercosur Summit scheduled for June 30 in Asunción, Paraguay.

In his meeting with the Swiss President, Lula discussed the Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). During the Brazilian delegation's transfer from Évian-les-Bains to Geneva, the Swiss Parliament approved the agreement by a wide majority.

"It is undoubtedly encouraging news," Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said in commenting on the progress of the trade agreement.