Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet face-to-face with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in France next week, though a bilateral meeting between the two leaders has not yet been scheduled, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Modi is scheduled to move between France and Slovakia during a nearly week-long visit starting on June 13 to participate in awareness sessions of the G7 summit and several other events and to hold bilateral meetings, according to the schedule announced by the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister will first travel to the French coastal city of Nice for a bilateral meeting with President Emmanuel Macron on June 14, and the two leaders will jointly inaugurate Bharat Innovates, a three-day event held as part of the Indo-France Year of Innovation to showcase Indian technology projects from centrally-funded higher education institutions and polytechnics.
Modi is next scheduled to travel to Slovakia on a state visit from June 14 to 16. This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Slovakia since the country’s independence in 1993. Modi will hold talks with Prime Minister Robert Fico and meet President Peter Pellegrini. He will then return to France to participate in the awareness sessions of the G7 Summit in Evian from June 16 to 17.
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Modi and Trump meeting at the table?
The people cited above said, on condition of anonymity, that there are plans for the prime minister to hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit on June 16, although the meeting with Trump has not yet been set. They added that Modi is expected to meet the leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany and Egypt, and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been ruled out.
While the Indian Prime Minister has been invited to attend the awareness sessions of the G7 summit along with leaders of other major countries in recent years, Trump does not usually stay for such sessions after attending the main sessions of the G7 summit, which will be held on June 15 this year.
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The Ministry of External Affairs said the meeting between Modi and Macron in Nice on June 14 will be an opportunity to review bilateral relations, which have been elevated to a special global strategic partnership this year. During the G7 Summit in Evian, Modi will exchange views with leaders of G7 countries, partner countries and international organizations participating in three sessions on “Forging New Partnerships and Rebuilding International Solidarity”, “Reviving Balanced, Shared and Sustainable Economic Growth for All”, and “Ensuring Safe, Rapid and Effective Deployment of Artificial Intelligence”. The ministry said that Modi’s presence in the G7 “reflects India’s position as a leading voice for the Global South and a key partner in confronting global challenges.”
In the last leg of the visit, Modi will visit Paris on June 18 for further bilateral engagements and to attend the VivaTech Summit, Europe’s largest technology and startup event. He is also expected to address the Indian community in Paris.
