PM Modi holds talks with world leaders at G7 Summit in Germany
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen here and held productive discussions as the two leaders reviewed the India-EU cooperation in trade, investment, technology and climate action, and exchanged views on contemporary global and regional developments.
Prime Minister Modi, who is in Germany on a two-day visit from Sunday for the summit of the G7, met von der Leyen on the sidelines of the G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau, the picturesque venue of the summit in southern Germany.
He said that he had an “outstanding meeting” with the European Commission President.
President @EU_Commission @vonderleyen and I had an outstanding meeting earlier today. We discussed ways to deepen investment linkages, efforts to combat climate change, boosting digital cooperation and other important issues, Modi said on Twitter.
PM @narendramodi and President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen held talks on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit. Issues such as stronger trade ties, cooperation to mitigate climate change, emerging technologies and cultural linkages were discussed during the meeting, the Prime Ministers Office tweeted.
During their talks, Prime Minister Modi and the EU Commission President welcomed the resumption of negotiations on the trade, investment and geographical indication agreements, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
Productive discussions held between PM @narendramodi & President @EU_Commission @vonderleyen on the margins of G7. Reviewed India-EU cooperation in trade, investment, technology, climate action. Welcomed resumption of negotiations on the Trade, Investment and GI Agreements, Bagchi said on Twitter.
PM @narendramodi meets with the President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen. The #IndiaEU relationship is shaped by ever-growing bilateral cooperation and partnership, the Official Account of Indias Public Diplomacy, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Twitter.
This was their second meeting in two months after she visited New Delhi in April, her first visit to India as the president of the European Commission.
“The Prime Minister recalled President Leyens productive visit to Delhi in April 2022 during the Raisina Dialogue. The leaders expressed happiness on the resumption of negotiations on the Trade, Investment and GI Agreements between India and EU. They reviewed India-EU engagements in various sectors, including digital cooperation, climate action and technology & innovation,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
“Both leaders also exchanged views on contemporary global and regional developments,” it added.
In April, Prime Minister Modi and von der Leyen announced the setting up of an India-EU Trade and Technology Council, a high-level strategic mechanism to tackle key trade, economic and technological challenges.
In their talks, both sides also agreed to launch the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a strategic coordination mechanism to tackle challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security.
India and the European Union are eyeing to firm up the comprehensive trade and investment agreements before the commencement of the electoral cycles on both sides in 2024, EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto said on April 29.
India is the second country after the US to have such a mechanism with the 27-nation European Union.
In May last year, India and the European Union (EU) announced to resume negotiations for a balanced and comprehensive trade agreement after a gap of over eight years.
The EU is one of the largest investors in India, accounting for 16 per cent of total investments received between 2015-20 (83 billion euro between 2000 and 2021).
The EU said there are 4,500 European companies operating in India, contributing to the creation of over 1.5 million direct and 5 million indirect jobs in the country.
The Investment Facilitation Mechanism was established in 2017 to facilitate the entry for EU companies proposing to invest in India.
PM Modi meets counterparts from UK, Japan and Italy in Germany
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterparts from the UK, Japan and Italy and exchanged views on a range of issues with them on the sidelines of the G7 Summit here on Monday.
Prime Minister Modi also met President of Senegal Macky Sall, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and held fruitful discussions with Director-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Modi tweeted about his meetings with the world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Glad to interact with PM @BorisJohnson, he said.
Wonderful interaction with Japan PM @kishida230 at the @G7 Summit, Modi said. Happy to have met Italian PM Mario Draghi on the sidelines of the @G7 Summit, he said in a series of tweets.
Modi is in Germany on a two-day visit beginning on Sunday for the G-7 Summit held at Schloss Elmau, the scenic venue of the summit in southern Germany. Modi is attending the G7 Summit following an invitation by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Besides India, Germany, the host of the G7 Summit, has also invited Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa as guests for the summit to recognise the democracies of the global south as its partners.
From Germany, Modi will travel to the United Arab Emirates on June 28 to pay his condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former president of the Gulf nation. Sheikh Khalifa passed away on May 13 after battling illness for the last several years.
PM Modi meets Canadian counterpart Trudeau
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit here during which the two leaders took stock of the India-Canada friendship and agreed to expand trade and economic linkages, cooperation in security and counter-terrorism.
Modi and Trudeau are here at Schloss Elmau, the picturesque venue of the summit in southern Germany, to attend the summit of G7 countries.
“Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @JustinTrudeau meet on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Germany. They took stock of the India-Canada friendship and discussed ways to further strengthen it across various sectors,” the Prime Ministers Office tweeted.
“Reviewed the full range of India-Canada ties during the fruitful meeting with PM @JustinTrudeau. There is immense scope to boost cooperation in sectors like trade, culture and agriculture,” Modi tweeted.
The prime minister also posted a picture of his earlier interaction with Trudeau and US President Joe Biden during the G7 Summit.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and agreed to expand trade and economic linkages, cooperation in security and counter-terrorism.
“Useful exchange between PM @narendramodi and Canadian PM @JustinTrudeau at Schloss Elmau. Leaders discussed bilateral ties and agreed to expand trade and economic linkages, cooperation in security and counter-terrorism, as well as P2P ties,” he tweeted.
As leaders of robust democracies with shared values, they had a productive meeting, a press release issued by the external affairs ministry said. “They also exchanged views on global and regional issues of mutual interest,” it added.
This is the first in-person bilateral meeting between the two leaders in over four years. Trudeau had visited India in February 2018 during which he held bilateral talks with Modi. This is also the first meeting between the two leaders since Trudeau, who had backed the agitating farmers in India, had said that Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests, and had expressed concern over the situation. His remarks had angered India which summoned the Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi and told him that such comments constituted an “unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs and these actions, if continued, will have a “seriously damaging” impact on the bilateral ties.
Canada has a significant number of Indians, mostly from Punjab. In February 2021, Trudeau reached out to Prime Minister Modi and requested a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from India, which sent a consignment of Covishield to Canada a month later.
Trudeau had lauded India and said that if the world managed to conquer COVID-19, it would be significant because of Indias tremendous pharmaceutical capacity, and Prime Minister Modis leadership in sharing this capacity with the world.
The bilateral trade stood at USD 12.4 billion in 2021. Over 600 Canadian companies have presence in India while Indian companies in Canada are active in the fields of information technology, natural resources, steel and banking. The negotiations for comprehensive economic partnership between the two sides resumed in April 2022. Canada hosts the largest Indian diaspora in the world.
The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political grouping consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The German Presidency has invited Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa to the G7 Summit in Elmau, Bavaria. Modi is attending the G7 summit held in the Alpine castle of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany following an invitation by German Chancellor Scholz.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
