After wrapping up his historic three-day visit to Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today arrived in the German city Hamburg to attend the G20 Summit.
The Prime Minister will attend the summit on July 7-8. The theme of the summit this year is ‘Shaping an Inter- connected World’.
“PM @narendramodi reaches Hamburg for the G20 Summit. Key multilateral and bilateral engagements will take place through the summit,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.
On the sidelines of the summit, Modi is to participate in a meeting of leaders of the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - grouping tomorrow.
He is also set to hold bilateral meetings with some of the world leaders there.
The G20, founded in 1999, comprises a mix of the world’s largest and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85 per cent of global gross domestic product and over 75 per cent of global trade.
The members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday ruled out any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit saying the “atmosphere” was “not right” for such meeting.
“The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said ahead of the summit beginning today.
China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for past 19 days after a Chinese Army’s construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.
There were reports that Modi and Xi may meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to resolve the standoff. China’s state-run media yesterday had quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Beijing would be forced to use a “military way” to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the “historical lessons” being offered by it.
However, Indian government officials have clarified that no request was made from Indian side for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping and therefore, the question of the atmosphere being conducive or not does not arise.
The Times of India quoted MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay as saying that the only meetings scheduled were with leaders from Argentina, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, RoK, UK and Vietnam.
