The 16th G20 Summit set to be held in Rome over the weekend will focus on ‘People, Planet and Prosperity’ wherein Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his address for the eighth time, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
“The last in-person summit that PM Modi attended was in Osaka, Japan in June 2019. Italy’s theme for its presidency is people, planet and prosperity. It comes from the 2030 United Nations agenda for sustainable development,” Shringla said.
Prime Minister Modi will be in Rome, Italy from October 29-31 to attend the G20 Summit at the invitation of Italian PM Mario Draghi. This would be PM Modi’s eighth G20 Summit. Last year’s event, hosted by Saudi Arabia, was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s unanimity in G20 on building back from the pandemic by focusing on job creation, skill development and it is an important part of the overall discussions and agenda that will be there,” Shringla said.
The Foreign Secretary, addressing the media ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Rome, said that resumption of international travel through mutual recognition of vaccines and national vaccine document has been India’s proposal and “there’s strong support within emerging market economies in the group in this regard”.
“Focus of Italy is on recovery from the pandemic, strengthening global health governance, economic recovery and resilience, climate change and energy transition and sustainable development and food security,” he said.
Shringla said that India “fully supports” all priority areas chosen by Italy and “we have remained engaged on each and every of these agenda items through the presidency of Italy this year and in the run-up to the summit”.
PM Narendra Modi will also call on Pope Francis at the Vatican. However, it is yet to be finalised whether it will be a one-to-one meeting or a delegation-level event. Normally, there are some delegation members in such meetings, the Foreign Secretary said.
“Today, G20 represents 80% of world’s GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the world’s population. Thus, it is fitting to say that over time, the G20 has emerged as not only the premier global forum for international cooperation, but also important platform to exchange, innovate and deliberate on policy issues that have direct and tangible impact on the quality of life of our citizens and this could be in areas of global financial stability, sustainable finance, health, food security, etc.,” Shringla added.
