International Desk, 19 May: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The two leaders will meet in person for the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the G7 summit and may arrive in Hiroshima on Saturday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for Hiroshima where he will meet the G7 leaders and also participate in the Quad Leadership Summit.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Imin Dzapparova visited New Delhi and urged India to support Ukraine’s “peace plan”. India has on several occasions called on both Russia and Ukraine to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy to restore peace and stability in the Eastern European region. Prime Minister Modi once called on Russian President Vladimir Putin after the start of the war in Ukraine. He met Putin at the shanghai cooperation organisation’s summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September 2022. The two leaders had a meeting behind the SCO summit. The then Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that this was “not an era of war” – a statement that resonated among world leaders.
India has spoken of getting back on the path of dialogue and diplomacy and ending hostilities and called on all parties to take specific steps to end the war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Modi had called for peace in Ukraine this February. Addressing a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz in New Delhi, PM Modi said, “Ever since the war broke out in Ukraine, India has insisted on resolving disputes through dialogue and diplomacy. India is ready to contribute to any peace process. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold several bilateral meetings behind the G7 summit which has been invited as a special guest.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Dak-su, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Min Chin, G7 President and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron, Uk Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet behind the G7 Summit in Hiroshima.
G7 is an informal group of major industrialized nations consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States which meet in Hiroshima. This time the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Comoros, The Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam have been invited as the G7 aims to reach out to the developing countries of the so-called Global South.