PM for Italy tomorrow to attend G7 summit

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Italy this week on his first trip abroad after being elected for the third consecutive term. Modi will participate in the G7 summit, which will be held between June 13 and 15.

This year, the annual summit of the Group of Seven advanced economies will be held at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy's Apulia region. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are likely to dominate the G7 summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also scheduled to address a session on the Russian invasion. Apart from PM Modi, other top leaders scheduled to attend the event are US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

However, there is no official announcement on Modi's visit to Italy yet.

Sources said that Modi will leave for Italy on June 13 and will be back by late evening on June 14.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by a high-level delegation that is likely to include External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and NSA Ajit Doval, the sources said.

It is expected that Modi will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit, including a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Last year, the PM had attended the G7 summit in Hiroshima. He had held talks with Zelenskyy as well as other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Italy is holding the current presidency of the G7 (Group of Seven) and is hosting the summit in that capacity. A key focus of the Italian presidency has been to defend the rules-based international system.