Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G7 Summit in Italy on Friday, where he met with several world leaders and held discussions over a host of issues, including climate change and artificial intelligence. Here are the key takeaways from the event.
PM Modi met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday at the G7 Outreach summit. They greeted each other with a namaste.
Upon the conclusion of his visit, Modi said in a post on X, “Had a very productive day at the G7 Summit in Apulia. Interacted with world leaders and discussed various subjects. Together, we aim to create impactful solutions that benefit the global community and create a better world for future generations. I thank the people and government of Italy for their warm hospitality.”
“I warmly recall my visit to Italy for the G20 Summit in 2021. Prime Minister Meloni’s two visits to India last year were instrumental in infusing momentum and depth into our bilateral agenda. We remain committed to consolidating the India-Italy strategic partnership and bolster cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean regions,” his statement said.
In her opening address, Meloni said that southern Italy was chosen as a venue to deliver 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.”
During the day, Modi, on his first overseas trip in his third term, met US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron, British Prime Minister Sunak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Pope Francis and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Jordan’s Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
India is one of 12 countries and five international organisations invited by Italy to the G7 Summit’s outreach session. With a focus on AI and energy, Modi emphasised India’s four key principles for energy — availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability.
During the session on Friday, Modi said that the global community should work to make advanced technology widely available. This will help create an inclusive society and reduce social inequalities.
Modi also said that India will collaborate with all countries to ensure Artificial Intelligence is transparent, fair, secure, accessible, and responsible.
“India has considered it its responsibility to place the priorities and concerns of the countries of the Global South on the world stage. We have given high priority to Africa in these efforts. We are proud that the G-20, under India’s chairmanship, made the African Union a permanent member. India has been contributing to the economic and social development, stability and security of all African countries, and will continue to do so,” the PM said.
Modi said that India will collaborate with all countries to make Artificial intelligence (AI) transparent, fair, secure, accessible, and responsible. As a founding member and lead chair of the Global Partnership for AI, India is promoting global cooperation in AI. He highlighted India’s human-centric approach, noting it was one of the first countries to create a national AI strategy, leading to the launch of the “AI Mission” with the mantra “AI for All.”
“Talking of India’s AI Mission premised on “AI for All”, the Prime Minister emphasised that this technology should be aimed at fostering progress and well-being of all. He underlined that with this broader objective in mind, India was fostering international collaboration as a founding member of the Global Partnership for AI,” he said.
“In the future too, we will continue to work together with all countries to make AI transparent, fair, secure, accessible and responsible,” he added.
Further, Modi said that India is the first country to meet all its COP commitments ahead of time and is working hard to reach “Net Zero” by 2070. India has also started “Mission LiFE” (Lifestyle For Environment) and launched the “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” (One tree in the name of the mother) initiative on June 5, Environment Day.
“We are making every possible effort to fulfil our commitment to achieve the target of Net Zero by 2070. Together we should make efforts to make the coming time a green era,” he added.
Pope’s visit
Pope Francis made a historic appearance at the Group of Seven summit on Friday to talk about the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence. He was warmly welcomed by leaders like US President Joe Biden and Argentina’s President Javier Milei. The Pope noted that while AI can be exciting and expand access to knowledge, it also comes with mixed feelings.
“Yet at the same time, it could bring with it a greater injustice between advanced and developing nations or between dominant and oppressed social classes,” he said.
G7 leaders promised to address what they called harmful business practices by China.
The G7 members — the United States, Italy, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Canada — focused on China’s economic influence and what they see as unfair markets in areas like electric vehicles, steel, and renewable energy.
Their summit statement, released on Friday evening, emphasized that the G7 was not trying to harm China or stop its economic growth but would “continue to take actions to protect our businesses from unfair practices, to level the playing field and remedy ongoing harm.”
The G7 also warned of taking action against Chinese financial institutions that helped Russia get weapons for its war against Ukraine.
Leaders also talked about immigration — an important issue for Meloni who wants Europe to help reduce illegal migration from Africa. She has started a major plan to boost development in Africa to address the reasons people leave. The G7 leaders agreed to form a coalition to fight people smuggling, with more cooperation in investigating trafficking networks and seizing their assets.
UK PM Rishi Sunak noted that it was the first time a G7 summit had discussed migration, calling it a sign of progress.
“Illegal migration is now a global emergency. We all agree that it’s for sovereign nations to control their borders and not criminal gangs. Obviously, these things don’t happen overnight. (But) the conversation … was very productive, so I’m confident it will make a difference,” Sunak said.
During their first day of meetings in southern Italy, the G7 countries reached a preliminary agreement to offer Ukraine $50 billion in loans supported by interest earned from frozen Russian assets. They praised the deal as a strong indication of Western determination.
In their summit statement, G7 leaders expressed their intention to impose additional penalties on Russia for invading Ukraine. They also pledged sanctions against organizations that helped Russia evade restrictions on its oil trade through fraudulent means.
The G7 summit statement on Friday did not include the word “abortion,” indicating a disagreement among leaders. Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who hosted the summit, and her allies were at odds on this issue.
Last year, G7 leaders pledged to address “access to safe and legal abortion” at their summit in Japan. However, this commitment was omitted from this year’s final statement in Puglia, reportedly due to Prime Minister Meloni’s stance.
The United States and France opposed Meloni’s attempts to weaken the language on women’s rights, given her opposition to abortion.
“We reiterate our commitments in the Hiroshima leaders’ communique to universal access to adequate, affordable, and quality health services for women, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights for all,” the statement read.
