Synchronizing Presidencies across the levels of global governance

BRAZIL: The current sequence of chairmanships across the main international forums is not synchronized across regional, trans-regional and global blocs/organizations.

The optimal mode of synchronization could involve the advancement of economic initiatives first at the regional level (RTAs) before moving further to the trans-regional level (BRICS, G7) and then to the level of global forums (G20, COP)

One of the gaps in current global economic governance is the ad hoc and at times disorderly pattern of country chairmanships and presidencies across the main regional, sub-regional and global forums.

The sequence of presidencies in global forums such as the G20 is not aligned or duly considered with respect to the sequence of presidencies in the regional/trans-regional forums and blocs. Some of the recent examples include Brazil chairing the COP conference and BRICS in 2025 as well as serving as the pro tempore presidency in the Mercosur in the second half of 2025, with its G20 presidency in 2024 preceding the country’s chairmanship in all these forums.

Rather than the sequencing of country chairmanships evolving in an ad hoc manner, there could be a more pre-mediated and forward-looking arrangement (agreed and synchronized across all the main regional and global forums), whereby the global economic system allows for the regional and trans-regional chairmanships to be more aligned with the sequence of presidencies at the global level.

The way to improve the sequencing of chairmanships of countries across the main international forums would be to allow for the regional chairmanship to precede the country’s presidency in global forums.

Ideally, the country’s presidency in the regional integration arrangement (such as ASEAN or Mercosur) generates the policy impulse and a set of initiatives that are agreed upon at the regional level and then advanced to the higher levels of global governance in forums such as BRICS+ (comprising the Global South) and G20 (global level).

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In this way, a continuous sequence of several years of a given country’s presidency in the regional and global forums and organizations allows the policy initiatives to be more inclusive (in terms of their coordination with regional partners) and more sustained.

This continuity of policy initiatives could be further reinforced via the Troika (current, past year and next year presidencies) mechanism operating in a coordinated and pre-meditated way across regional, trans-regional and global international forums. In case such Troikas were to operate across all the main international forums and organizations, this would greatly improve policy continuity and the connectivity across blocs and organizations.

In particular, Troikas could cooperate across blocs and forums such as COP, G20 and BRICS in ensuring that the key initiatives on the policy agenda are duly advanced across all the main levels of global governance.

Furthermore, if platforms of regional integration arrangements were to be created at various levels of global governance (BRICS, G20), this could create scope for “Regional Troikas” to operate in tandem with the country-level Troikas in international forums.