Accepting the UK PM Boris Johnson’s invitation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually participate in the outreach sessions of the G7 Summit on June 12 and 13.
This year, United Kingdom is holding the G7 Summit. The country has invited non-member India, Australia, South Africa, and the Republic of Korea to take part in the summit as guest countries.
What is on the agenda of G-7 this year?
The theme for this year’s G7 Summit is ‘Build Back Better’ and the UK has outlined four priority areas for its presidency. These are –
• Leading the global recovery from Covid 19 while strengthening resilience against future pandemics.
• Promoting future prosperity by championing free and fair trade.
• Tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity and
• Championing shared values and open societies.
The leaders are expected to exchange views on the way forward for the world amid the pandemic, with a focus on health and climate change.
What’s in it for India at G7 Summit –
• India has a lot at stake. India has long called for reforming the global institutions and groupings to reflect modern-day geopolitical realities.
Earlier, Trump advocated expanding G7 and also was in favor of India being a part of the global high table.
• As India faces a massive shortage of vaccines, Delhi will be closely watching the allocation announced by the US President very carefully.
Last week, United States announced that it will distribute vaccines to India as part of its “strategy for global vaccine sharing”. This decision by the US was taken after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met key officials in the administration in Washington DC.
While US President Joe Biden made the announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris had called up PM Modi about Washington’s plans to make vaccines against Covid-19 available to other countries, including India.
• A US statement said that the Biden-Harris administration will begin sharing the “first 25 million doses of Covid vaccines” as part of the framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June.
This means that India is likely to get vaccines from the US — both directly as well as through COVAX. Initial estimates suggest India will get about 2 to 3 million vaccines in the first tranche.
Welcome to the G7 Summit 2021.
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Is India attending it for the first time –
This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in a G7 meeting. India had been invited by the G7 French Presidency in 2019 to the Biarritz Summit as a “Goodwill Partner” and the Prime Minister participated in the Sessions on ‘Climate, Biodiversity and Oceans’ and ‘Digital Transformation’.
• During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s UPA rule, India attended the G8 five times.
• Russia was indefinitely suspended in March 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, reducing the count of the G8.
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