Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral meetings with several world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G 7 Summit in the southern resort town of Italy.
It is Modi's first foreign visit after assuming office this month. He is also likely to meet Pope Francis on the sidelines of the meet.
In his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi conveyed to him that India believes in a "human-centric" approach and that the way to peace is through "dialogue and diplomacy". "Regarding the ongoing hostilities, reiterated that India believes in a human-centric approach and believes that the way to peace is through dialogue and diplomacy," he said.
The Prime Minister described the meeting with the Ukrainian President as "very productive" and said India is eager to "further cement" bilateral relations with Ukraine.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two leaders reviewed bilateral relationship and exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. "Furthering India-Ukraine partnership! PM @narendramodi met President @ZelenskyyUa of Ukraine on the sidelines of the 50th G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy," he said in a social media post.
"The leaders reviewed bilateral relationship and exchanged views on situation in Ukraine. The PM conveyed that India continues to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy," he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra were part of Modi's delegation at the talks. It is learnt that Zelenskyy briefed Modi on various aspects of the conflict. Modi had met Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the previous G7 summit in Hiroshima in May last year as well.
India has been maintaining that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. The meeting between Modi and Zelenskyy came ahead of the Swiss Peace Summit.
India on Wednesday said it will participate in the upcoming peace summit on the Ukraine conflict at an "appropriate level".
The Peace Summit will take place at Bürgenstock in Lucerne on June 15 and 16. Switzerland has invited Modi to attend it. However, it is learnt that a senior diplomat will represent India at the summit.
Modi and Macron discussed ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership including in areas of defence, nuclear and space, and exchanged views on key global and regional issues.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the southern resort town of Italy.
"Taking Strategic Partnership to new levels! PM @narendramodi met President @EmmanuelMacron of France on the sidelines of the 50th G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X.
"The two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the partnership including in areas of defence, nuclear, space, education, climate action, digital public infrastructure, critical technologies, connectivity and culture. They also exchanged views on key global and regional issues," he wrote.
The two leaders last met in January when the French President visited India to attend the 75th Republic Day of India.
During their last meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their shared vision for bilateral cooperation and international partnership, outlined in Horizon 2047 and other documents from the July 2023 Summit.
Horizon 2047 Roadmap sets an ambitious and broad-ranging course for the bilateral relationship for 2047, the centenary year of India's independence.
Modi is attending the 50th G7 Summit on the invitation of Italian President Georgia Meloni and will address an Outreach session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean alongside leaders of other invited countries and Pope Francis.
During Modi's meeting with Sunak, the leaders talked about the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, enhancing industrial cooperation in the defence sector, boosting trade and commerce.
"It was a delight to meet PM @Rishi Sunak in Italy. I reiterated my commitment to further strengthen the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the third term of the NDA Government. There is great scope to deepen ties in sectors like semiconductors, technology and trade,' Modi said in a social media post.
The two leaders greeted each other with a warm hug.
While Sunak congratulated Prime Minister Modi on his historic third consecutive term, the Indian leader extended his best wishes to the people of the United Kingdom as they prepare for general elections next month, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The two leaders reaffirmed the shared commitment of both countries to further strengthen bilateral relations, the statement said."We also talked about further cementing ties in the defence sector," Modi wrote in his post.
The MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described the meeting between the two leaders as "fruitful." "The leaders discussed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 and expressed happiness on progress in all areas of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including regular high-level political consultations, defence and security, trade and economic collaboration, critical and high technology sectors and people-to-people ties," the statement said.
"They also expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two countries. Both leaders also discussed regional and multilateral matters of mutual interest," it added.
Sunak and Modi last met in person at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September, which also marked Sunak's first official visit to India as Britain's first Prime Minister of Indian heritage.
The two leaders then agreed to accelerate the FTA talks with the hope of signing off before India's general election. However, the trade talks are now expected to resume only after a new UK government is elected on July 4.
The India-UK FTA negotiations, which opened in January 2022, are aimed at significantly enhancing bilateral trade - currently worth around 38.1 billion pounds a year as per official statistics from earlier this year.
Modi is attending the summit on the invitation of Italian President Georgia Meloni and will address an Outreach session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean alongside leaders of other invited countries and Pope Francis.
Earlier, Prime Minister Modi arrived in Apulia, southern Italy, to attend the Outreach session of the G7 Summit and hold bilateral talks on a wide range of issues with world leaders on Friday.
In her opening address on Thursday at the meeting of the G7 leaders - US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel -Meloni said southern Italy was chosen as the venue to send a strong message to the Global South.
"It is no coincidence that we are hosting the summit in Apulia. We did this because Apulia is a region of southern Italy and the message we want to launch is that the G7, under the Italian presidency, wishes to strengthen its dialogue with the nations of the Global South," she said in her opening address.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is set to dominate the agenda as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived for the discussions on Thursday. While India has reiterated its stance on "dialogue and diplomacy" as the best approach, Sunak is leading calls for "decisive" efforts to support Ukraine "whatever it takes".
In his pre-visit media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had recalled Modi's statement in September 2022 that "today's era is not of war".
"We have always been at the forefront to offer assistance wherever we can to alleviate challenges faced by the Global South because of the conflict, humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and also to the Global South affected by conflict," he said. Kwatra said India will continue to share its perspective with world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.