Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni at the 50th Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ summit in Italy. This is the first foreign trip for Modi after his third tenure.
He is attending the summit at the invitation of Italian President Giorgia Meloni and will address an Outreach session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean. He will speak alongside leaders of other invited countries and Pope Francis.
The two counterparts were seen meeting with ‘Namaste’ to each other which is an Indian way of greeting people.
Additionally, Italian Minister Meloni congratulated PM Modi after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections were concluded on June 4 which resulted in the win of Narendra Modi. She tweeted, “Congratulations to @narendramodi on the new electoral victory and my warmest wishes for good work. Certain that we will continue to work together to strengthen the friendship that unites Italy and India and consolidate cooperation on the various issues that bind us, for the well-being of our Nations and our peoples.”
Earlier in the day, the PM met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak as well.
The G7 leaders’ summit is being held at Borgo Egnazia in Italy’s Apulia region from June 13 to 15. Representatives from Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, and the EU are attending. The highlight of the opening day was a political agreement on a $50 billion loan deal for Ukraine, funded by interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after the 2022 invasion.