Close on the wheels of winning a third term but with a reduced mandate, PM Narendra Modi will travel to Italy for G7 as a special invitee and also Kazakhstan to join the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Modi will look to engage with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.
At the inaugural day of the G7 Summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was seen welcoming European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with folded hands ---- that is Namaste !
The age old Hindu gesture.... keeping hands near to own's heart ... this displays a person's sincerity ... I may be stronger to you ... I may be weaker ..... but I am welcoming you as your friend and well wisher !!
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday welcomed several delegates and heads of government with a 'namaste' at the G7 (Group of Seven) Summit.
On the inaugural day of the summit, Meloni was seen welcoming European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen with folded hands, signifying the traditional Indian greeting 'namaste'.
The G7 summit, which is being held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy's Apulia region from June 13 to 15, is expected to be dominated by the raging war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
On Day 1 of the summit, US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were present at the summit along with Giorgia Meloni.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also participate in the summit.
"At the invitation of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, I am travelling to Apulia region in Italy to participate in the G7 Outreach summit on June 14," PN Modi said, before leaving for Italy.
The prime minister said he was glad that his first visit in his third consecutive term is to Italy for the G7 Summit.
"During the discussions at the Outreach session, the focus would be on artificial intelligence, energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean," Modi said.
The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Italy is holding the current presidency of the G7 and is hosting the summit in that capacity.
Besides India, Italy has also invited leaders from 11 developing countries in Africa, South America and the Indo-Pacific region to attend the summit.
Though the European Union is not a member of the G7, it attends the annual summit.
This year's summit mainly focuses on developing mechanisms to defend the rules-based international system which has come under challenge by the Russian aggression on Ukraine and Israel's war against Hamas.
The G7 summit will also showcase the growing conflict between the West on the one hand and the Sino-Russian alliance on the other. This presents major new opportunities as well as challenges to Indian diplomacy, says C Rajamohan, a foreign policy expert.
In his first trip abroad during his third term as prime minister, Narendra Modi will attend the summit of the leading Western nations — the so-called Group of Seven — in Fasano, Italy.
A significant improvement in the relations with the US and Europe is one of the more important legacies of Modi’s first 10 years in office.
"The PM will now have a chance to reconnect and reboot the relations with the leaders of the West at the meeting of the G7 which is marking its 50th anniversary this year," wrote Rajamohan in 'Indian Express'.
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