Make it -India at G7 Submit- A Love Story That Might Just Be

As the G-7 Summit begins on Sunday amidst the picturesque Bavarian Alps at Schloss Elmau, a castle and luxury hotel, different countries are going into it with different expectations. But none could be as hopeful as India. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Summit, yet again, as a special invitee, to meet the world leaders and discuss issues that matter to the world. Other special invitees to the event, from June 26-28, are the leaders of Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa. This year's

G-7 Summit's motto is "Progress towards an equitable world", based on "five areas of action." PM Modi is going to address two sessions, on June 26-27, that would traverse issues of Energy, Climate Change, Environment, Health, Food Security, Democracy and Gender Equality. This year's Summit is being hosted by Germany, which took over the G-7 presidency on January 1, 2022. The agenda this year includes discussions and debates over energy security, climate change, COVID-19 pandemic, food security, gender equality, and the ‘elephant in the room', the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The leaders of the G-7 countries, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the European Union (which makes it a G-8?) have already arrived in Germany as have the special invitees. While the world leaders may put up a brave face and say that this year's Summit was going to throw up some much-needed answers to the world problems, the 4,000 protestors, gathered in Munich by Saturday, would beg to differ. Despite a low turnout at Munich's Theresienwiese Park, the protest organizers are all set to challenge the ‘richest' democracies on the question of Russia's invasion in Ukraine. This year's protest could be considered a pale shadow of the one held at the G-7 Summit seven years ago, at the same site. At that time, 35,000 people had participated in the protests, inviting ample media attention to their allegation that G-7 was remembered more for its ‘family photographs' than any credible and concrete solution to issues like climate change.

PM Modi flew in to Germany on the midnight of June 25 and according to Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, he is going to have bilateral meetings with the G-7 leaders as well as leaders of the guest countries on the side lines. Speaking to the press, Kwatra said, "Regular participation of India at the G-7 summits clearly points to increasing acceptance and recognition that India needs to be a part of every sustained effort to find a solution to solve challenges, global challenges in particular, which are being faced by the world." The fact that despite ignoring the US' boycott call earlier this year for Russia to be left out internationally, India got a special invite to the G-7 Summit speaks volumes about India's growing international clout. Also, India is going to take over the presidency of G-20 in December this year while Indonesia will host the forthcoming G-20 Summit. Therefore, the meeting between PM Modi and the Indonesian President Joko Widodo is of special significance. It is noteworthy to mention that Indonesia had also joined India in refusing to support the US boycott call against Russia. Photo -Social Media