G20 Summit: PM Modi To Reach Indonesia Today, Bilateral Talks With Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron Expected

For the first time since Indian-origin Rishi Sunak took over as the Prime Minister of the UK, Indian PM Narendra Modi is about to meet him in the sidelines of the G20 summit, reports NDTV.

As per the sources, Modi will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron on November 15-16 G20 summit where Indonesia will formally handover the presidency of the powerful group to India.

Modi is scheduled to reach Indonesia today for a three day trip where besides Sunak, the US President Joe Biden and Chinese Premiere Xi Jinping will also be there. It is however not clear whether Indian PM will have any bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart.

Both Modi and Xi attended annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan's Samarkand in September but then there was no bilateral meeting between them.

While the Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra in his media briefing mentioned that there are several bilateral talks scheduled, he hasn’t revealed with whom Modi is expected to meet. “These bilateral engagements with the other leaders are still in the process of being scheduled. This is something which remains under evolution,” Kwatra said.

Major Agendas of G20

As per the media briefing of the foreign secretary, Modi will attend three major sessions on food and energy security, digital transformation and health.

The global leaders in the summit will deliberate upon the key issues of global relevance such as the state of the global economy, issues relating to energy, environment, agriculture, health and digital transformation.

He emphasised that the major global challenges like uneven post-pandemic economic recovery, debt vulnerabilities especially in the countries of the global South, the ongoing conflict in Europe, and its knock-on effects, such as food security challenges, energy crisis and inflation, on all countries of the world will come up as a part of the summit.

G20 Summit's significance for India

This G20 summit is going to be special for India as it will assume the presidency of this group on December 1 for a one year term.

India is currently part of the powerful Troika- comprised of the last, current and upcoming president of the group.

“The Prime Minister would receive the G20 Presidency from the President of Indonesia at the closing session of the Bali Summit, and as you all know, India will host the next G20 Summit in September 2023,” the foreign secretary said.

Kwatra also focuses on the probable role of India and said, “India as the next chair would endeavour to provide a greater voice to issues of interest to the global South and steer the G20 agenda in a representative and balanced manner.”

“India's G20 Presidency hopes to provide new strength, direction and perspective to G20 discussions on diverse subjects which include green development, lifestyle for environment, digital transformation, inclusive and resilient growth, women-led development and more importantly, greater voice for the global South in issues of international economic cooperation as also on the need for reformed 21st century institutions,” he added.

While Modi will focus on the significance of digital governance, it is not clear whether the communique will include the Ukraine war. “It is not a document that is voted upon. So whatever communique is there, it would be a consensus document,” Kwatra noted.

As India will assume the presidency, the Troika will have Indonesia, India and Brazil. This is notably for the first time three developing countries will be part of this group.

(With PTI Inputs)