SINCE the Ukraine war began, the G20 is widely seen to have been diminished in its effectiveness given growing global geopolitical divisions. However, Brazil is promoting an ambitious agenda in 2024, including reforms to key multilateral bodies such as the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organisation, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Brazilian G20 year started in December and is therefore almost four months into play. One of the most ambitious reforms proposed, so far, by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a change agenda for post-war multilateral institutions.

Lula’s argument is that the changing global economic power balance, plus the large number of conflicts across the world at the moment, makes this shift in the multilateral order a necessity. Yet such reform has been discussed for decades and will prove far from easy. While a growing number of countries agree on the case for change, in principle, forging a consensus around specific proposals is hard.