PM Modi meets several world leaders on sidelines of G20 Summit

On the 1st day of the G20, on the sidelines of the summit, PM Modi met the state heads of Indonesia, Portugal, Italy, England and Norway.

The priority points across all the bilateral were to review the cooperation in various areas of mutual-interest. Bilateral trade and discuss various areas of cooperation. One of the major highlights of these meetings was the announcement of 2 new consulates in the UK.

During the Bilateral talks with Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto, the focus was on cooperation in the fields of trade, tourism, defence, and connectivity. While discussing the global and regional issues, they discussed close collaboration within the G20 and primacy to Global South.

In his bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luis Montenegro, both leaders highlighted the areas of cooperation in renewable energy and green hydrogen. The emphasis on strong defence relations, people-to-people linkages and other subjects were also discussed. Besides exchanging views on regional development and global issues of mutual interest including India-EU relations, the emerging areas of IT, digital technologies, startups and innovation were also discussed.

In another bilateral meeting, PM met the Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Store, where they discussed about investment linkages and areas of improvement between the two in areas of renewable energy, green hydrogen and blue



economy.

The PM mentioned India’s Arctic Policy as the strengthening point of the bilateral relations. Trade and economic cooperation were also a talking point more so in light of the signing of the Indian-European Free Trade Association Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement.

Prime Minister also met the British PM Sir Keir Starmer. It’s for the first time that two leaders are meeting. Both reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the focus on economy, trade, new and emerging technologies etc. They underlined the importance of resuming the Free Trade Agreement and negotiations at an early date.

The PM announced the establishment of the 2 new consulate generals in the UK -Belfast and Manchester. Both noted the importance of addressing the issue of economic offenders from India to the UK.

PM meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron was focused on the closely working sectors of space, energy, AI and other futuristic areas. The PM welcomed President Macron to organize the forthcoming AI Action Summit in France.

They reaffirmed their commitment to advance the India-France Strategic Partnership as well as their shared vision for cooperation and international partnership outlined in the Horizon 2047 roadmap. They also reviewed the progress of cooperation on India’s National Museum project.