Days after creating history by winning a third consecutive term as the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi arrived at Borgo Egnazia, a secluded luxury resort in the Puglia region, to join the G7 Summit as the leader of the world’s fastest growing major economy and the most populous democracy.
The G7 is a familiar turf for PM Modi as he has attended five summits of the world’s wealthiest countries earlier and has developed personal equations with most G7 leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz. This year’s G7 summit is special as it marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of G7, a grouping of the world’s richest and most advanced nations.
The overarching focus of PM Modi’s participation in the G7 summit in Italy will be to position India as a bridge-builder between the North and the South in a world polarised by geopolitical rivalries and tribal-nationalistic animosities.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, known to be an ardent admirer of the Indian leader, was one of the first world leaders to congratulate PM Modi after winning the elections on June 4. In this telephonic conversation, the two leaders also briefly discussed synergies on the G7 agenda in Italy, according to senior Indian officials familiar with the conversation. The two leaders will also hold bilateral talks that will focus on scaling up economic and defence ties between India and Italy.
Focus on
Global South
The G7 summit, to which the leaders of nearly a dozen developing countries have been invited, will be an excellent opportunity to burnish India’s credentials as a leader of the Global South, which was showcased at New Delhi’s successful G20 presidency last year. Many of the key themes of Italy’s G7 presidency such as Africa, Global South and green development link up with important initiatives which were fructified during India’s G20 presidency.
In New Delhi, ahead of the G7 Summit, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra outlined the agenda for PM Modi’s participation at the G7 summit in Apulia. “It will afford him an opportunity to engage with other world leaders present at the G7 Summit on issues of importance to India, as also to the Global South,” said Mr Kwatra. “At G7 also, we have always brought the issues of Global South to the forefront,” he added.
With the interests of the Global South on the mind, PM Modi’s remarks at the outreach summit of the G7 will focus on a cluster of issues, including artificial intelligence, energy transition, Africa, and the Mediterranean, which impinge on interests of the developing countries. In his remarks at the outreach session on AI, PM Modi will make an eloquent case for promoting ethical use of AI and the use of AI for solving problems in developing countries of the Global South. In the intervention, Modi will pitch for “AI for all” and showcase India’s success in setting up world-class digital public infrastructure, said officials.
It’s time for Africa
On June 14, while addressing an outreach session at the G7 summit, PM Modi will underline India’s commitment to spur Africa’s development and resurgence. PM Modi is expected to showcase India’s multi-faceted development partnership with Africa and how India has promoted African interests in global forums such as G20 and the UN. In his speech, PM Modi will highlight how the African Union became a permanent member of the G20 under India’s G20 presidency at the New Delhi summit in September 2023, said official sources. In this context, he will also meet the president of Mauritania, which holds the African Union presidency. PM Modi will also urge G7 and the international community to provide support to debt-distressed African countries. Under its G7 presidency, Italy is advocating an inclusive approach based on three pillars: listen-respect-build together, as enshrined in the Mattei Plan for Africa.
The focus of PM Modi’s short visit to Italy will be largely on a series of bilateral meetings he is expected to hold with the leaders of G7 countries as well as emerging economies on June 14. While bilateral meetings are being finalized, the show-stealer is likely to be his first meeting with US President Joe Biden after being re-elected for a third consecutive term. The talks will set the stage for the trajectory of India-US ties for the next six months till the US elections in November 2024. The meeting will focus on accelerating the implementation of key outcomes of Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit to the US in June 2023, which culminated in pathbreaking outcomes in areas of defence co-production and critical technologies.
Besides Biden, Modi is expected to meet the leaders of Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Argentina.
This year, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the host of the G7 summit in Apulia, is hoping to mobilise consensus on using Russian money stashed in the banks of G7 countries to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. The summit will also focus on promoting peace in the Middle East, which plunged into chaos and instability after the Hamas attack on Israel for over eight months.
For India, the importance of the G7 summit in Italy this year lies in the strong message it will send to the world on maintaining a rules-based international order. In a veiled critique of China, the summit’s joint declaration is expected to stress on enhancing international coordination to sustain the rules-based international order, including in the maritime domain.
Manish Chand is Editor-in-Chief, India and the World magazine and CEO, Centre for Global India Insights, a think-tank focused on global affairs. He is currently in Fasano, Italy to report on and analyse the G7 summit and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy.
