Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, May 19: The first leg of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-nation trip, which also includes stops in Papua New Guinea and Australia, began on Friday with his departure for Japan to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima.
India has been invited to attend the G7 conference as a guest nation. Nuclear disarmament, economic resilience and security, regional concerns, climate and energy, food and health, and development are the main focuses of the G7 summit’s outreach to the invited guest nations.
PM Modi is expected to meet with Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, and other leaders during his tour.
In Hiroshima, the Prime Minister will also unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi.
There is a plan, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Friday, for the Quad leaders to meet in Hiroshima. Australia planned to host the Quad summit, but US President Joe Biden postponed his trip because of the vital debt-ceiling talks in Washington.
According to PM Modi’s remark before leaving, India’s G20 Presidency this year makes his attendance at the G7 Summit particularly significant. Japan’s Hiroshima will host the G7 Summit from May 19 to 21.
“I will leave for Hiroshima, Japan to attend the G7 Summit under the Japanese Presidency at the invitation of Mr. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan. It will be a pleasure to meet Prime Minister Kishida again after his recent visit to India for the India – Japan Summit. My presence in this G7 Summit is particularly meaningful as India holds the G20 Presidency this year,” the statement said.
“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. I would also be holding bilateral meetings with some of the leaders attending the Hiroshima G7 Summit,” he added.
