Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.
The meeting, if it happens, will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since the Russian-Ukraine war which started last year. And based on the reports the talk between the two leaders will focus on the current situation in Ukraine and how it can be resolved diplomatically and how to restore stability in the region.
`This is not an era of war’
During his meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO meeting Samarkand in 2022, Prime Minister Modi had told him that `this is not the era of war’. And has been urging the leaders of both countries to sit down for a dialogue to find a solution to the ongoing war which has an impact on the global economy.
Besides meeting the Ukrainian leader, PM Modi will also have bilateral discussions on the sidelines with G7 leaders and other counterparts from France, the US, South Korea, the UK, Vietnam, and host country Japan. The meetings with the leaders on the sidelines will focus on strengthening multilateral cooperation, regional dynamics and also talk about shared interests.
Japan is hosting the G7 under its presidency and will also be hosting the QUAD Leaders Summit on the sidelines, since the leaders will be present there at a venue in Hiroshima for the meeting. PM Modi is visiting Japan at the invitation of his counterpart Fumio Kishida for the G7 between May 19-21 where during the outreach sessions he will focus on global challenges like food and energy security as well as peace and security and more. India has been invited as a guest country at the G7 and it comes at a time when India is holding the presidency of G20.
Agenda of the G7
The Group of seven countries, special guests as well as representatives of the international bodies will talk about nuclear disarmament, regional issues, climate change, energy security, food, health, economic security and resilience.
PM will address three sessions under G7 Outreach Programme
In a special briefing ahead of the visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Thursday that on May 20 and 21 India will participate in three formal sessions:
The first session on Saturday will focus on health and gender, food, and development; on May 21 PM Modi will participate in the second session related to environment and energy as well as climate change and the last session on the same day will be on ‘peaceful, stable and prosperous world’.
Ahead of the G7 meeting the US and the UK have announced their plans to impose more sanctions on Russia over its repeated attacks on Ukraine which has now entered its second year.