India’s G20 presidency will be inclusive, action-oriented: PM Modi
The HinduIndia’s G20 presidency will be “inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who accepted the ceremonial gavel from Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a handover event during the conclusion of the G20 summit in Bali on Wednesday. In his first meeting with the U.K.’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr. Modi raised issues of “trade, mobility, defence and security”, an MEA statement said. The U.K. PM’s office said that Mr. Sunak, who is the first British Hindu PM of Indian-African origin, also “passed on his thanks to Prime Minister Modi for the overwhelming response of the Indian people to his appointment as Prime Minister.” While the issue of the Russian war in Ukraine overshadowed G20 proceedings on Wednesday, particularly after a number of missile strikes by Russia on Ukrainian cities, none of the Ministry of External Affairs’ readouts referred directly to the issue in talks between Mr. Modi and the European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Mr. Modi’s meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was elected in September, focussed on deepening India-Italy cooperation in “energy, defence, culture, boosting climate change and the economic partnership,” he said in a tweet. Tweeting in Hindi and French, Mr. Macron said that he “shared the same agenda for peace as Prime Minister Modi” and would work on this agenda under the upcoming G20 chairmanship of India.