New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been trolled for his foreign trips. In the wake of Karnataka Assembly elections, he had postponed all his foreign trips. Now as the election is over, and BJP has faced a heinous defeat, PM Modi seemed to have taken in his stride and again has scheduled his for foreign trip.
With a tour of three countries, over 40 engagements and three multilateral summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s calendar for the month of May is booked with back-to-back foreign commitments.
PM is on a six-day visit in which he will travel to Japan, then Papua New Guinea, and finally to Australia this month. In this tour, he will attend three multilateral summits including Group of Seven (G7), Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) and Quad.
PM Modi will be working round-the-clock and interact with over two dozen world leaders in the summits, as well as through one-on-one bilateral meetings. He is also scheduled to meet business leaders, important personalities, scholars, and members of Indian diaspora during his trip.
The trip’s first destination will be the G7 summit in Japan’s Hiroshima, and he is there in the country from May 19 to 21. He will likely voice his opinions on global challenges including food, fertiliser and energy security.
Japan will be hosting the G7 summit in its capacity as the current chair and PM Modi has been specially invited for it by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
The broad agenda of the G7 summit will focus on nuclear disarmament, economic resilience, economic security, regional issues, climate change, energy security, food and health.
Modi will also inaugurate a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima, according to Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra. Kwatra added that India’s regular participation at the G7 summits points to increasing recognition that it should be a part of any serious effort to resolve global challenges including those of peace, security and development.
The Quad summit, which was originally scheduled to be held in Sydney, will now take place in Hiroshima. This is as US President Joe Biden postponed his visit to Australia to focus on crucial debt-ceiling talks in Washington.
From Hiroshima, the Prime Minister will travel to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea where he will host the third summit of FIPIC on May 22, jointly with Prime Minister James Marape.
In the final leg of the trip, PM Modi will visit Australia. Here, he is set to hold talks with his counterpart Anthony Albanese and also schedule to address members of the Indian community at an event on May 23.