At G7, PM to attend ‘outreach’ sessions; AI, energy on agenda

New Delhi, June 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the ‘outreach sessions’ at the G7 summit in Italy where the agenda will focus on artificial intelligence, energy, Africa and the Mediterranean.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Wednesday said PM Modi’s participation at the G7 summit would provide an opportunity to follow-up on outcomes of the G20 summit held under India’s presidency last year. The agenda of the outreach sessions is to be discussed on June 14.

For the outreach sessions, Italy, which is holding the G7 presidency, has invited Algeria, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkiye and the UAE.

On being asked about the possibility of the Russia-Ukraine war dominating the discussion, Kwatra said, “We will be sharing our perspective on Ukraine. We have always maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the best option to resolve the conflict.”

The G7 summit is to be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy’s Apulia region from June 13 to 15.

President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the top leaders attending the summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also scheduled to attend the session on the Russian invasion of his country. The Foreign Secretary said India’s regular participation in the G7 summit points to increasing recognition of New Delhi’s efforts to address global challenges.

On the sidelines of the G7, a bilateral meeting of PM Modi and his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni has been scheduled. They would review the strategic partnership, said Kwatra.

Italy has joined key India-led global initiatives such as International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative, Global Bio-Fuels Alliance and India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, reflecting growing convergence of views on important global issues.

The trade between the two countries was $15 billion in 2022-23 with Indian exports being worth $8.691 billion.

Indian investment in Italy is estimated around $400 million. Indian companies in Italy are mainly in IT, pharma, electronics, manufacturing and engineering sectors.

There are more than 700 Italian companies in India, with an estimated employment of about 60,000 and an overall turnover of 9.7 billion euro. Responding to a question, Kwatra said India would participate in the peace summit in Switzerland at an appropriate level. He did not specify who will represent India at the summit.

Modi to meet Meloni

• On the sidelines of the G7 summit, a bilateral meeting of PM Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni has been scheduled. They will review the strategic partnership, said the Foreign Secretary
• Italy has joined key India-led global initiatives such as International Solar Alliance, Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative, Global Bio-Fuels Alliance, etc.