PM Modi to visit Italy for G20 later this month

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Italy later this month for the annual G20 summit. The G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in Rome on October 30 and 31. This will be 3rd foreign visit of PM Modi amid the Covid pandemic. He visited Bangladesh in March and the US in September. While it is unlikely that PM Modi would visit any other country during his Italy visit no call has yet been made by New Delhi.

The summit will see many bilaterals on the sidelines. The 2019 Osaka summit in Japan saw bilateral between PM Modi and the then US President Donald Trump. G20 has been an occasion for the JAI (Japan, America, India) and RIC (Russia, India and China) leaders' meets. The BRICS leaders have also been meeting on the sidelines of the grouping's annual meet.

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Meanwhile, reports have suggested both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and new Japanese PM Fumio Kishida may not attend the G20 summit this year. While no reason is coming forth for Jinping, Japan's Kishida will not attend the summit due to parliamentary election in Japan. They are due to be held on October 31. That also means, meeting of JAI or RIC will not take place.

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Rome summit will be the 16th G20 summit. Last year the summit happened virtually, because of the Covid crisis. India will be hosting the G20 in 2023 for the first time. Preparations are underway in New Delhi with construction of state-of-the-art venues.

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G20 was formed during the 2008 global economic crisis, with the first summit taking place in November 2008. Since then, the group has taken a political role as well, discussing pressing global issues. Italy as the host, will hold a virtual G20 meet on Afghanistan on 12th October. The grouping that has 20 of the biggest economies. The countries account for major portion of global economy. This includes 80% of the trade. 2/3rd of world population lives in G20 countries and these countries make up for about half of world's land area.