Holds wide-ranging talks with Meloni, Macron, Sunak and Kishida.
Economic diplomacy dominates as $10-trillion-economy by 2030 is the goal .
It was the day of Europe and a delicate diplomatic waltz for India’s Prime Miniter Narendra Modi at the G7 summit in Italy as he met the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan on the margins of this annual diplomatic outing of the world’s wealthiest countries focused on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
On Day 1 of his visit to Italy, PM Modi held wide-ranging talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to advance and elevate ties with these Western democracies. In a diplomatic balancing act, PM Modi also met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and discussed there.
Economic diplomacy dominated PM Modi’s interactions with the leaders of European countries as he sought more investment from them, with the larger goal of making India a 10-trillion-dollar economy by 2030.
Focus France
The talks between Mr Modi and Macron focused on scaling up India-France ties in key areas of defence, nuclear, space, education, climate action, digital public infrastructure, and connectivity. The primary focus of the Modi-Macron talks was on implementing the ‘Horizon 2047’ Roadmap and the Indo-Pacific Roadmap to take strategic partnership to the next level.
Predictably, the talks centred on the next steps in India-France defence partnership under the template of ‘Make in India’ model of co-production and co-development.
The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the realms of AI, critical and emerging technologies, energy and sports. They decided to work closely in context of the forthcoming AI Summit and United Nations Oceans Conference, both to be hosted in France in 2025, said a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
In the outreach session, President Macron lauded PM Modi’s initiative on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Public Infrastructure.
Bonding with Britain
In his bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the primary focus was on intensifying negotiations for concluding the Free Trade Agreement, which will pave the way for accelerating India-UK economic relations. The talks also covered enhancing bilateral collaboration in semiconductors, technology, trade, security, and defence.
This was possibly the last meeting of PM Modi with Sunak, who is expected to be voted out of power in the elections scheduled for July 4. Like in the US, there is a robust bipartisan consensus in the UK for stronger relations with India, which is widely seen as an emerging power and the world’s fastest growing major economy.
Balancing Act: Ukraine Meeting
The meeting with Ukraine President Zelensky was significant as all eyes are on India’s representation at the Ukraine Peace Summit in Lucerne, Switzerland on June 15-16. In his talks. PM Modi conveyed that India continues to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. Modi’s message to Ukraine and the international community was clear: India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution, but don’t expect India to criticise Russia or downgrade its ties with special and privileged strategic partner.
PM Modi’s stand on the Ukraine issue stood out at the G7 summit in Apulia which saw G7 countries clearing a controversial deal to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow invaded its neighbour in 2022. Terming the frozen asset agreement a “significant outcome”, Biden told reporters that it was “another reminder to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that we’re not backing down.”
With the interests of the Global South on the mind, PM Modi’s remarks at the outreach summit of the G7 will focused on 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 made an eloquent case for promoting ethical use of AI and the use of AI for solving problems in developing countries of the Global South.
(Manish Chand Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network, 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).
