New Delhi: Prime Minister Modi will unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Japan's Hiroshima, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra. PM Modi is all set to travel to Japan from May 19-21 to attend the G7 Summit. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, during the special media briefing, told reporters that PM Modi will hold a bilateral discussion with the PM of Japan. He is scheduled to unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima. "We are planning the Quad leaders' meeting in Hiroshima. For the second leg of his three-country visit," the PM will visit Papua New Guinea and later Australia.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold bilateral discussions with several leaders in the G7 as also with the guest countries and international organisations, Kwatra told media here in Delhi. On the question of the change in venue from Sydney to Japan for the Quad Summit, Kwatra said, "Quad Summit scheduled for Sydney, is not being held there. It is being tried by all four leaders, for the Quad Summit to be held in Hiroshima".
"The agenda on which the leaders had agreed upon in the last Quad Summit will be discussed in Hiroshima if the Quad Summit can be held here on time. There is a change of venue, but the background of cooperation and specific aspects won't change", Kwatra added. The major highlight of PM Narendra Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea is the third summit of the Forum for Indo-Pacific Island Cooperation (IPIC), which will be jointly hosted with Papua New Guinea's PM James Marape.
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After his visit to PNJ, PM Modi will travel to Australia on May 22-24. There he is scheduled to interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders and address the Indian diaspora at a community event in Sydney on May 23. On the upgradation of the current framework agreement that India has with Australia, Kwatra further said, "Discussions on broad-basing trade, investment and other elements of economic partnership between India and Australia is an ongoing discussion".
"Naturally, the end objective is that we try to upscale and upgrade our current framework of partnership into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. Those conversations are still going on. At this stage, I don't think it will be correct for me to conclusively say whether we would be able to achieve that objective before this visit", he added. Modi has attended three G7 summits in the past twice in-person in Biarritz, France (2019) and Elmau, Germany (2022), and once virtually (Cornwall, the UK-2021).
According to sources, besides India, which holds the G20 presidency, the G7 grouping – Japan, Italy, Canada, France, the US, the UK and Germany has invited the EU, Australia, Brazil, Comoros (African Union chair), the Cook Islands (Pacific Islands Forum chair), Indonesia (ASEAN chair), South Korea and Vietnam as invitees to the outreach session. The UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO and WTO will also attend the summit.
