Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilaterals with some of the G20 leaders at the forthcoming leaders’ summit in Indonesia starting Monday and will participate in three key sessions — on food and energy security, digital transformation and health.
“On the sidelines of the Bali Summit, the PM will have several bilateral interactions with G20 leaders to brief them on India’s evolving G20 priorities as also to review key elements of bilateral engagement with these world leaders,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a press briefing on Sunday.
Modi is visiting Bali, Indonesia, to attend the G20 Summit on November 14-16, at the invitation of the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, who will symbolically hand over the G20 presidency to India at the end of the Summit. India will formally assume the G20 Presidency from December 1 for a year-long period.
As India will host the next G20 Summit in September 2023, the PM will also use the opportunity at the Bali Summit to invite all leaders to India, Kwatra said.
While, reportedly, Modi is likely to meet newly-elected British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, there is no official confirmation on it. There is also no clarity on whether he will meet US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Biden, however, is scheduled to meet Xi in Indonesia on Monday about “efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication” between the two countries at a time of growing tensions, according to a recent statement from the White House.
New direction
During its presidency, India hopes to provide new strength, direction and perspectives to G20 discussions on diverse subject such as green development, lifestyle for environment and perspective of global south on issues of important international cooperation, Kwatra said.
“PM Modi will also be part of the G20 leader’s visit to Mangrove forest in Bali on November 16,” said Kwatra.
The G20 includes world’s major developed and developing nations such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.