India to take part in BRICS, Commonwealth, G7 summits

Next few days will be packed in terms of slew of summits with high level Indian Participation starting with the BRICS summit that will take place on 23rd June, Thursday. The 14th BRICS summit will take place virtually under the chairmanship of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese President will also host the High-level Dialogue on Global Development in Beijing on June 24th which according to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying will see participation of "BRICS leaders and leaders of relevant emerging markets and developing countries will attend the event." Chinese President will also address the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum in virtual format on 22nd June. The BRICS, or Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa recently saw meeting of its national security advisors in which NSA Ajit Doval called for "cooperation against terrorism without any reservations", according to sources.

It will be followed by the It will be followed by the commonwealth summit in Rwanda's capital Kigali from 24th to 25th June (Friday and Saturday), and with India being represented in person by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. The commonwealth summit is seen a key moment for Rwanda's President Paul Kagame who will be keen to showcase his country's progress. PM Modi had visited the country in 2018 and even gifted 200 cows. During a 2020 telephonic conversation, Rwanda's President had told PM Modi that the cows have "helped in improving availability of milk for Rwandan children and also increased the income of farmers", according to a ministry of external affairs read out. India is one of the largest, in terms of both size, economy and population members of the 54 members strong grouping.

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The last, and perhaps one which could get lot of focus is the G7 summit that will take place from 26 to 28 June 2022 at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps, Germany. The G7 summit happens in the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, something that will strongly dominate the agenda. PM Modi will be in Germany from 26th to 28th, and during the sidelines of the summit is expected to hold number of bilaterals. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had formally extended the invite to PM Modi during his bilateral visit to Berlin last month. PM Modi was in Berlin for the inter-governmental commission meet, that also saw his first in person bilateral with new German chancellor. This year, India has been invited along with Indonesia, Senegal which is also African Union's president, South Africa and Argentina.

This is the 4th time India has been consecutively invited or considered for an invite at the G7 summit since 2019. In 2020, President Donald Trump was keen to invite PM Modi for the G7 outreach summit at Camp David. The summit was to take place in June 2020 but due to the covid crisis could not happen. Last year the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had invited India for the G7 summit, but PM Modi could not travel as 2nd wave of Covid pandemic had majorly impacted the country. PM Modi participated in the summit virtually. French President Macron in 2019 had invited India for the G7 ‘Biarritz Summit’ as “a Goodwill Partner”. France was the first country to invite PM Modi for the G7 summit.

India was first invited for the G8 outreach summit in 2003 when the then Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Invited by France. The 2003, G8 summit as it was known back then took place in Evian-les-Bains, France. Remember G7 was a G8 grouping, before Russia was suspended in 2014 due to its actions in Crimea. From 2005 to 2009, India was regularly invited to the G8 outreach summit with PM Manmohan Singh representing India.

From Germany, PM will travel to United Arab Emirates for a short visit. The last visit by PM to UAE was in August 2019 during which he received the UAE’s highest award, 'Order of Zayed’ conferred upon him by UAE leadership. The visit of Indian PM Modi happens even as ties were tensed with Islamic countries over few last weeks after remarks by now expelled and suspended members of ruling BJP party.