Modi to attend G7 in Italy, join Ukraine peace talks at ‘appropriate’ level.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly to Italy to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said. The visit will mark Modi’s first overseas trip in his third term, which began on Sunday after he was sworn into office following the Lok Sabha elections 2024 result.
Following the G7 summit, a Ukraine Peace summit is also set to be held in Switzerland, in which India will participate at an ‘appropriate level’, Kwatra noted in a press conference today. Russia has not been invited to this summit; however, Moscow has said that it would not have attended the summit anyway.
India, Italy enhance trade, def & tech ties; boost strategic partnership
Italy, which has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the G7 Summit Outreach Sessions, is India’s fourth largest trading partner in the European Union, 18th largest foreign investor with bilateral relations upgraded to the level of ‘Strategic Partnership’ with focus on defence, Indo-Pacific, energy and science and technology.

Italy is the Chair of G7 this year and is hosting the G7 Summit on June 13 and 14. Italian PM Georgia Meloni has invited PM Modi to the G7 Outreach Summit in Puglia on June 14.
The two countries have close and friendly relations with the two modern and mature democracies, committed to the rule of law, respect for human rights and achieving economic development through inclusive growth.
There is a long-standing Indological tradition in Italy with several scholars taking keen interest in studying Indian languages (Tamil, Hindi and Sanskrit), history and culture.

PM Modi had a telephone conversation PM Meloni in April this year in which he extended his greetings to the people of Italy on the occasion of the country’s 79th anniversary of Liberation Day.

He thanked PM Meloni for the invite to the G7 Summit Outreach Sessions to be held in Puglia, Italy.

The leaders discussed taking forward the important outcomes from India’s G20 Presidency, especially that support the Global South, at the G7 Summit under Italy’s Presidency.
Both are modern and mature democracies. PM Narendra Modi last visited Italy for the G20 Summit in October 2021. Meloni visited India on State visit in March 2023 and was Chief Guest at Raisina Dialogue. She also visited India for the G20 Summit.

India-Italy bilateral relations have been upgraded to the level of ‘Strategic Partnership’ with focus on defense, Indo-Pacific, energy and science & technology during her visit.
Several ministers from Italy visited India in 2023, for G20 related meetings and held bilateral meetings on the sidelines including the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs & trade, Finance, Agriculture, Education and Culture Ministers. The Speaker and President of the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies participated in the P20 meeting last year. The Indian Foreign, Defense and Commerce & Industry Minister visited Italy last year.
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest.

India Italy Political Relations:

Political relations between India and Italy were established in 1947. There has been a regular exchange of visits at political and official levels between both countries. Over the past few years there have been several visits at the Prime Ministerial level, EAM level, Commerce Minister, Agriculture Minister, Health and so on, with several MoUs being signed during these visits. From the Indian side, at the level of Head of State/Government, the visit(s) date back to 1953 & 1955 when Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Italy, Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi in November 1981; President Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma in October 1996; Prime Minister Shri H.D. Deve Gowda in November 1996; Prime Minister Shri I.K. Gujral in September 1997; Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee in June 2000; Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in July 2009 and Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi in October 2021 to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome.

Indian Community:

The Indian community in Italy (estimated at 180,000 including PIOs) is the third largest community of Indians in Europe after UK and the Netherlands. According to official Italian data, there are 1.62 lakhs legal Indian migrants as on Jan 2019 (of which 58.8% are male and 41.2% female), accounting 4.4% of the non-EU citizens and 5th largest foreign community in Italy. As first-generation migrants, majority of them are engaged in economic sectors such as agriculture, dairy farming, leather industry, construction works and in service industry. The Embassy has been regularly engaging with them through the Prakash Parab and Baisakhi celebrations.