New Delhi: UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations, strengthening Indo-French defence cooperation and support for a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war — these were all a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s morning bilateral meetings with his respective counterparts on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy Friday.
Modi, attending his fifth consecutive Group of Seven (G7) Leaders’ Summit at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, met with French President Emmanuel Macron, his United Kingdom counterpart Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before attending the G7 Outreach session, scheduled to begin in the afternoon.
“Had an excellent meeting with my friend President @EmmanuelMacron. This is our fourth meeting in one year, indicating the priority we accord to strong India-French ties. Our talks covered numerous subjects such as defence, security, technology, AI, Blue Economy and more,” said Modi in a post on the social media platform X.
Had an excellent meeting with my friend President @EmmanuelMacron. This is our fourth meeting in one year, indicating the priority we accord to strong India-French ties. Our talks covered numerous subjects such as defence, security, technology, AI, Blue Economy and more. We also… pic.twitter.com/l52eHhJclL
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 14, 2024
Modi’s meeting with Macron is their fourth in the last year, after reciprocal visits to both countries’ National and Republic Day celebrations, and Macron’s attendance of the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi in September last year. The meeting between the two leaders is Modi’s first with a foreign leader after his election for a third consecutive term as India’s prime minister.
Modi also met with Sunak, where the British Prime Minister indicated he was “pleased” that India will send a “high-level delegation” to the Geneva Peace Summit on the Russia-Ukraine war, scheduled to be held between 15 and 16 June, according to the British readout of the meeting.
“The leaders discussed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 and expressed happiness on progress in all areas of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including regular high level political consultations, defence and security, trade and economic collaboration, critical and high technology sectors and people-to-people ties,” added the Indian readout of the meeting between Modi and Sunak.
No mention was made regarding the Geneva Peace Summit in the Indian readout. Pavan Kapoor, Secretary (West) and former Indian ambassador to Russia is New Delhi’s representative to Geneva.
Modi’s set of meetings before the G7 outreach session concluded with a bilateral with Zelenskyy.
Ukraine and domestic weakness of G7 leadership
The Ukrainian president in a post on Facebook thanked Modi for sending a delegation to Geneva and also discussed the expansion of trade between New Delhi and Kyiv, especially in “context of the functioning of the Black Sea corridor”.
“PM conveyed that India continues to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, and reiterated that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution,” said the Indian readout of the meeting.
The Russia-Ukraine war has been ongoing for over two years, with Moscow making gains on the battlefield in recent months, as Western aid to Kyiv slowed down due to US domestic concerns.
The war has been a central theme of the G7 meeting in Italy, with the US and Ukraine signing a 10-year security agreement Thursday, guaranteeing the supply of weapons, intelligence advice and technology to Kyiv.
The members of the grouping also agreed to a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, to be repaid through the interest earned on the nearly $300 billion worth of Russian assets frozen by the Western powers.
The support for Ukraine comes even as a number of leaders of the G7 are increasingly weakened domestically, except for the host Meloni. The results of the recently concluded European Parliamentary elections, saw Macron call for a snap election after the far-right parties won over 30 per cent of the votes, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition was humiliated.
US President Joe Biden is facing a tough reelection in November against his Republican opponent Donald J. Trump, while polls indicate that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is likely on his way out in the snap July elections in the UK.
Both Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the European Commission President and European Council President are awaiting their futures after the European parliamentary elections.
While von der Leyen’s political grouping the European People’s Party (EPP) won the most number of seats, indicating a potential second term as the President of the Commission, Michel is on his way out after being term-limited as President of the European Council.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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