The Peace Summit in Ukraine, which brought together around 60 world leaders and representatives of 90 governments, ended this Sunday (16) with a joint declaration calling for the safety of nuclear and maritime transit. But Brazil and 12 other developing countries and Russia’s partners in certain forums refused to sign the document.
The information comes from the government of Switzerland, the country that hosted the summit.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who traveled to Europe this week, decided not to participate in the meeting. The absence was intentional. According to the news agency Reutersthe Brazilian government thinks that it made no sense to participate in the summit, as it “does not involve the two sides in conflict”.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was not invited. Therefore, Lula rejected the invitations of Viola Amherd, president of Switzerland, and sent the Brazilian ambassador to the country as a representative.
In addition to Brazil, India and South Africa — which are part, along with Russia and China, of the Brics group of emerging economies — also refused to sign, as did Mexico.
Armenia, Bahrain, Indonesia, Slovakia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates also did not sign the document, while 80 nations did, including the vast majority of European Union countries, the United States, Japan, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. .
At the end of the second plenary session of leaders, held today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the delegations for their participation and for understanding that “we are all interested in the fact that there is no danger at nuclear power plants and other atomic facilities”.
“I am grateful that the participants at this conference understood this and the need to restore full security at the Russian-captured Zaporizhzhia plant,” he added.
“I also thank each and every one of you for supporting us in our efforts to ensure safe navigation and preserve the free flow of food,” said the Ukrainian president.
“I want to emphasize that food security is vital, not just for countries in the Global South, but literally for every country in the world. Any disruption to food markets is a direct path to the chaos Russia desires,” Zelensky said.
The document produced by the summit defends Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the face of the Russian invasion and asks the invading country to cooperate with the exchange of prisoners of war entirely and return children.