Modi calls for collectively addressing challenges ahead of departure for Japan | Latest News India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday he will exchange views with heads of G7 states and other partners invited to the G7 Summit in Japan on the need to collectively address challenges facing the world.

In a statement issued ahead of his departure for a three-nation tour that will begin in Japan, Modi said he is attending the G7 Summit under the Japanese presidency at the invitation of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Modi will also hold a bilateral meeting with Kishida, who visited India in March.

“My presence in this G7 Summit is particularly meaningful as India holds the G20 presidency this year. I look forward to exchanging views with the G7 countries and other invited partners on challenges that the world faces and the need to collectively address them,” he said.

Modi will hold bilateral meetings with some leaders attending the G7 Summit. India is among eight countries invited by Japan for three outreach sessions at the summit being held in Hiroshima during May 19-21.

Modi is expected to speak at these sessions, the first of which will focus on food, health, development, and gender equality, and the second on climate, energy, and environment. The third session has the theme of a “Peaceful, stable, and prosperous world”.

From Japan, Modi will travel to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, where he will co-host the third Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation with Prime Minister James Marape. This will be the first visit by any Indian prime minister to Papua New Guinea.

“I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important Summit. FIPIC had been launched during my visit to Fiji in 2014, and I look forward to engaging with the PIC Leaders on issues that bring us together, such as climate change and sustainable development, capacity building and training, health and well-being, infrastructure and economic development,” Modi said.

Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Bob Dadae, Marape, and some PIC leaders participating in the summit.

He will then travel to Sydney, Australia, at the invitation of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a bilateral meeting that will be an opportunity to take stock of bilateral ties and follow up on the first India-Australia annual summit held in New Delhi in March. Modi will also interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders and meet the Indian community in Sydney.

The Australia leg of the tour was originally meant to include a Quad Leaders Summit, which was cancelled after US President Joe Biden called off his visit to Sydney to address a domestic debt ceiling crisis. People familiar with the matter said the Quad leaders are now expected to hold a meeting on the margins of the G7 Summit in Japan.

India is expecting several deliverables to come out of the Quad Summit in Hiroshima which will be attended by Modi, Biden, Kishida, and Albanese. Modi’s tour will be hectic since more than 40 engagements have been lined up and he is set to interact with more than two dozen leaders.

“There are several deliverables which we are expecting to come out of [the Quad meeting] and I think all that would be showcased when the four leaders meet in Hiroshima,” foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told a media briefing on Thursday.

Asked if this will be a regular summit of the Quad or just a meeting of the four leaders, Kwatra said that “when the four Quad leaders meet, it is a Quad summit”. Kwatra added that India’s participation at G7 Summits reflects the increasing recognition that the country should be part of serious efforts to resolve global challenges linked to peace, security, and development.

“This is salient in the context of our ongoing presidency of the G20 and our particular efforts to prioritise the interests and concerns of our fellow members of the Global South,” he said.

With the Ukraine crisis expected to figure prominently at the G7 Summit, Kwatra referred to Modi’s message last year to Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is not an era of war. Modi made it clear this is not an era of war and the resolution of the conflict has to be found through dialogue and diplomacy, he said.

“That is the fundamental anchor on which our political positioning and the pursuit of our economic interests and other interests is based, insofar as this conflict is concerned,” he said.

Kwatra said Modi will inaugurate a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima and hold bilateral meetings with several leaders, the details of which are being worked out.