PM Modi to attend three key sessions at G-20 Summit in Bali

FOOD, ENERGY SECURITY SET TO BE HIGHLIGHT OF SUMMIT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to put forward India’s perspective on addressing key global challenges in areas of health, postpandemic economic recovery and energy and food security at the G-20 summit in Bali that is taking place in the backdrop of Russia’s increasing confrontation with the West over its invasion of Ukraine.

The summit of the world’s biggest economies on November 15 and 16 assumes significance for New Delhi as it will see handing over of the G-20 Presidency to India by Indonesia at the closing ceremony of the annual gathering.

Modi is travelling to the Indonesian city on Monday on a three-day visit to participate in the summit which is also set to be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others.

At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said Modi will have separate bilateral meetings with a number of leaders on the sidelines of the summit but did not give a direct reply to questions on whether there will be a meeting with Xi.

“These bilateral engagements with the other leaders are still in the process of being scheduled. This is something which remains under evolution,” Kwatra said.

The two leaders attended the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand in September but there was no bilateral meeting between them.