New Delhi: It is a power-packed May for Indian diplomacy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. He will start his visit with the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, where he will represent India from May 20 to 21. The formal invitation was extended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when he visited New Delhi in March. It is pertinent to note that India has been invited several times to the G7 summit since 2019, but this will be PM Modi's fifth such invitation.
In 2021, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited India to the G7 summit, but PM Modi could not travel because of the outbreak of the Covid. Last year, Modi was in Germany to attend the summit in Schloss Elmau. After Japan, PM Modi will travel to Papua New Guinea for the forum for the India-Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit on May 22. US President Biden also travels to Papua New Guinea for the summit.
The forum brings together 14 Pacific Islands- Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue and India at the head of state/government level to name a few. In fact, this will be PM Modi's first-ever visit to the country, which is the second largest country in the Oceania region after Australia. India has been steadfast in assisting the Papua New Guinea government. The Indian High Commissioner handed over a consignment of 7.2 million doses of anti-retroviral drugs to the government of Papua New Guinea in 2016.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will finally conclude his three-nation visit in Australia where he will attend the Quad Summit scheduled to take place from May 23 to 24, along with the US and Japan. Over the years, the Quad grouping has been making relentless efforts in addressing the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, including China's growing assertiveness in the region. To combat climate change, the four countries initiated the Quad climate change action and mitigation package and promised to strengthen efforts towards green shipping, clean energy, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
The Quad is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries. The dialogue was initiated in 2007 by ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, with the support of Australian PM John Howard and former Indian PM Manmohan Singh and the then US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
