EAM Jaishankar to travel to Greece and Italy today, will attend G20 ministerial in Rome

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will embark on a two-day bilateral visit to Greece on Friday (June 25, 2021) to hold talks with his Greek counterpart, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Following Greece, Jaishankar will travel to Italy to attend the G20 Ministerial meeting, MEA spokesperson Arnidam Bagchi said during a weekly briefing. 

"EAM Jaishankar will be leaving tomorrow for the visit to Greece and to Italy. In Greece, he is making a bilateral visit on June 25-26 to hold talks with Greece counterpart along with other engagement," Bagchi said. 

This is the first EAM-level visit to Greece in about 18 years, the one being in 2003, said the spokesperson.

"After Greece, EAM will travel to Italy to attend the G20 ministerial meetings. These related to ministerial meetings at foreign ministerial level as well as development ministerial level," he added. 

The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union. 

Since December 2020, Italy holds the Presidency of the G20. The Foreign Affairs Ministers` Meeting is one of the ministerial meetings organized as part of the G20 Leaders Summit 2021.

The G20 is an influential bloc that brings together the world's major economies. The G20 member countries collectively account for more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of the global trade and 60 percent of the population of the planet. The G20 member countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.