NEW DELHI: Days after his swearing-in, Narendra Modi will undertake a day-long visit to Italy to participate in the G7 summit on June 14. With Modi unlikely to attend the Ukraine peace summit, which will be hosted by Switzerland immediately after G7, he’s expected to be back the next day, in time for the Parliament session beginning mid-June.
Unlike China, India is likely to participate in the Switzerland summit, for which Russia has not been invited, but at a junior level.Modi will address the G7 outreach session on June 14 and have bilateral meetings with several G7 leaders, as also with counterparts from other invitee countries. Govt sources said efforts were on to schedule as many bilateral meetings as possible on the margins of the summit.
Modi is expected to address issues related to development, health and food security, while ducking G7 recriminations against Russia. The G7 is expected to announce at the summit progress in their plans to use income from frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will host the summit in Apulia, was among the first heads of govt to congratulate Modi for the majority his NDA got in the Lok Sabha elections.
In a post on X, Meloni said she was sure “that we will continue to work together to strengthen the friendship that unites Italy and India and consolidate cooperation on the various issues that bind us, for the well-being of our nations and our peoples”.
Modi responded by thanking Meloni and saying he remained committed to deepening the India-Italy strategic partnership which is underpinned by shared values and interests.