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Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on Thursday to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, thanking her for an invitation to the G-7 meeting in June, if he is re-elected. The invitation for India to be a special invitee at the G-7 summit’s outreach sessions, due to be held June 13-15, was received by the government earlier this week, sources said.
Among the invitations New Delhi has received straight after election results are out in June are those for the Prime Minister or External Affairs Minister to attend the Ukraine peace conference to be held on June 15-16 in Lucerne, Switzerland, where G-7 leaders are expected to travel from Italy, as well as for the External Affairs Minister to travel to the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod for the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting on June 10-11. However, both the Ministry of External Affairs and diplomatic sources said a final response on all three invitations could only be expected after the results are announced.
“PM [Modi] extended his greetings to PM Meloni and the people of Italy on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of Liberation Day,” a release by the PM’s Office said. “[PM Modi] thanked PM Meloni for the invite to the G-7 summit outreach sessions to be held in June 2024 in Puglia, Italy,” the release said, adding that the leaders discussed taking forward “important outcomes from India’s G-20 presidency” during the G-7 summit, especially those that pertained to the Global South issues, including food and energy security, as well as development priorities.
Earlier on Thursday, the MEA had confirmed that India, which is not a member of the G-7 group of the world’s “most developed nations”, has received an invitation to attend the outreach sessions.
“We have received the invitation, but at this point in time, it is a matter which is under consideration. As and when we have more details to share with you, we [will],” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in response to a question.
India has been invited several times to the G-7 meeting since 2003 (formerly the G-8 until Russia was ousted from the grouping in 2014), and has been a regular invitee in the past decade. Given that Indian election counting will only be held on June 4, and the swearing in of the next government could take a few days, it is unclear whether the new Prime Minister would be able to attend the G-7 summit, to be attended by leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., on June 13.
However, the public reference to Italy’s invitation raised speculation that if re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi would consider travelling for the summit. Mr. Modi had last visited Italy for the G-20 summit in 2021, while former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was invited to the G8-G5 Summit ( that included G-8 countries and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) to Italy in 2009.
“[Ms. Meloni and Mr. Modi] reaffirmed their commitment to continue to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership. The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” the press release on Thursday said.
