G7 summit: PM Modi to meet Donald Trump in France today

PM Modi has met Trump once earlier this year - at the G20 summit in Osaka.

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi is all set to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday at 3:45 pm (IST) and the meeting is expected to continue till 4:30 pm on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France. This will be the second meet between the two leaders in 2019 and comes two months after they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

The ongoing India-Pakistan situation in the backdrop of New Delhi removing the special status for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be discussed when PM Modi meets Trump.

"India’s decision to rescind Article 370 in Kashmir is an internal decision, but certainly with regional implications. And President Trump will likely want to hear how Prime Minister Modi intends to calm regional tensions in light of this significant move", a senior Trump administration official said in a backgrounder teleconference on Trumps's G7 summit.

Trump has offered to mediate three times on the matter of Kashmir, something that has irked India, which has made it clear that India-Pakistan ties follow Shimla and Lahore agreements according to which no third party mediation is acceptable. Trade, defence ties and the Afghan peace process will also be discussed. 

A senior Trump administration official said, "They will look for solutions on the trade front. The US is looking at India to reduce tariffs and open its markets."

Last week both the leaders spoke during which India had raised the rhetoric coming from Islamabad since 5th august that impacts regional stability. 

All in all, PM Modi will have four bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

India is "Biarritz partner" country along with Australia, Chile, South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Egypt, and Burkina Faso. Climate, biodiversity will be the main focus of the 45th G7 summit of which, the theme is "combating inequality".

It is after a gap of more than 10 years that India has been invited to the G7summit, the last time being in 2005 when the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair had invited the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Gleneagles summit.

On Thursday, PM Modi was in France on a state visit and met with French President Emmanuel Macron for the fifth time. PM Modi visited France in 2017 followed by the visit of the French President in 2018 and then meetings on the sidelines of G20 summit in Argentina and Japan in December 2018 and June 2019, respectively.

After his France visit, he went to UAE and Bahrain where he met the top leadership and launched RuPay card and is back again in France for the G7 summit.