PM Narendra Modi to take part in G7 summit next month

New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the G7 summit that will take place under German presidency next month. The summit will take place from 26 to 28 June 2022 at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps, Germany. Remember German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had formally extended the invite to PM Modi during his bilateral visit to Berlin earlier this month. The G7 summit happens in the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, something that will strongly dominate the agenda. Since 2019, this is the 4th consecutive time that India has been considered to attend the summit. In 2019, under French Presidency of the grouping PM Modi was invited to take part in the summit.

This will be 2nd visit of PM Modi to Germany in matter of 2 months. The first visit, in early May, saw the first in-person meeting between the Indian PM and the new German chancellor. One of the key outcomes was announcement on establishing the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership.

Under the "green" partnership, Berlin agreed to make an advance commitment of 10 billion Euros of new and additional development assistance until 2030.

Both countries have also decided to work towards projects in 3rd countries--2 in Africa and one in Latin America. These projects are agri-business for women in Malawi, innovative production of potato seed project in Cameroon, and emulation of India's MGNREGA as part of rural social protection in Peru.

Meanwhile, India will be taking part in the G7 development ministers will meet in Berlin on Wednesday and Thursday (May 18th and 19th). The meeting is being hosted by Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze.

A key outcome of the development ministers' meet will be the launch of the global alliance on food security. The launch is key even as Russian invasion of Ukraine impacts the global supply chain and pushes prices of commodities, especially food high. 

Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs Dammu Ravi will represent India in the meetings. On Tuesday, he held a meeting with Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Indian mission in Germany in a tweet said, "discussions focused on further intensifying our cooperation in the field of climate action, development partnership and through G7." 

Countries invited to attend the G7 development ministers meeting include, India, Indonesia, Senegal, Vietnam, south Africa. Importantly, this is the first of the G7 meetings India is attending under the German presidency of the grouping. The key agenda includes Infrastructure investments for sustainable development, climate, energy and development partnerships for climate neutrality, Access to vaccines and Climate neutrality, among others.