NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that India is a “natural ally” of the Group of 7 nations that share common values and concerns.
Virtually addressing the G7 Summit, PM Modi highlighted India’s civilisational commitment to democracy, freedom of thought and liberty.
He said that India is a natural ally “to defend shared values from threats stemming from authoritarianism, terrorism and violent extremism”.
The Prime Minister also underscored “vulnerability inherent in open societies and called on tech firms to ensure safe cyber environment”.
India’s engagement fruitful, productive: MEAThe Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India’s engagement at the 47th Group of Seven (G7) meeting was “fruitful, productive”.
Speaking at a special briefing, P Harish, additional secretary (economic relations), MEA, said: “I can say without hesitation that India’s engagement with the G7 and guest countries stand on its own.” This was PM Modi’s second G7 summit after Biarritz in France in 2019.
“This is also the first time that India has been engaged at a ministerial level and a working level tracks as a guest country.
This is a significant engagement,” said Harish.
Read AlsoG7 leaders appreciated India’s engagement, PM Modi’s interventions: MEADuring the 47th Group of Seven (G7) meeting in the United Kingdom, several world leaders appreciated India’s G7 engagement and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interventions, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), adding that India’s engagement was “fruitful and productive”.
This was PM Modi’sElaborating on PM Modi’s engagement, Harish informed that his participation in the Summit was based on three broad tracks – global health vaccines and recovery from Covid-19, environmental and climate change and open societies and open economies.
The theme selected by the United Kingdom for this year’s summit was ‘Build Back Better’ in reference to the devastating impact of the pandemic over the past 18 months.
Read AlsoCovid roundup: G7 vows action on vaccines; curbs to be eased in Delhi, Karnataka from tomorrowNEW DELHI: India’s Covid cases continued to witness a decline as it recorded 80,834 new Covid cases, lowest since April 1 and 3,303 deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours.
This is the sixth consecutive day when India has reported less than one lakh Covid cases.
On April 1, India recordedPM Modi seeks support for TRIPS waiverCalling on the G7 to demonstrate leadership, PM Modi sought their strong support for India and South Africa’s proposal for a TRIPS waiver at World Trade Organisation (WTO).
As per the MEA, PM Modi’s call was “strongly echoed” by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also expressed strong support for the TRIPS waiver.
On June 11, G7 leaders gathered for the first meeting of the G7 Summit, discussing the theme ‘Build Back Better’ together.The director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations secretary-general also identified TRIPS waiver as an important element of the global vaccination plan, a roadmap to vaccinate the entire global population by doubling vaccine production, said the MEA.
“There was widespread support in deliberations for text-based negotiations on the India-South Africa proposal at WTO,” said Harish.
Recently, India and S Africa had proposed to waive the intellectual property rights of the Covid-19 vaccine which are protected under Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the WTO to allow domestic manufacturers to ramp up production.
British PM expresses regret over PM Modi’s absenceMeanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed regret over not being able to welcome PM Modi in person at the Summit which is being held in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
PM Johnson was “understanding and supportive” about PM Modi’s absence, said P Harish.
PM Modi did not attend the two-day summit in person in view of the pandemic situation in the country.
Read Also’One Earth, one health,’ PM Modi says in message to G7 summitNEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday gave the mantra of ‘One Earth, one health,’ in his virtual address to the outreach session of the G7 summit, now under way in England.
The session, titled ‘Building Back Stronger – Health’, focused on global recovery from the coronavirus pandemicPM Modi on Saturday gave the mantra of ‘One Earth, One Health’ in his remarks at the outreach session of the G7 summit in the United Kingdom, government sources said.
They said German Chancellor Angela Merkel specifically referred to Prime Minister’s mantra and conveyed strong support.
The G7 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
India, although not a G7 member, was invited to the summit by Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of host nation the UK.
Non-member countries Australia, South Africa and South Korea also received similar invitations.
(With inputs from agencies)