NEW DELHI: Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni took a selfie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in Apulia, Italy on Friday, June 14, and she shared the five-second video on her social media platform X on Saturday, where PM Modi could be seen laughing in the background. Meloni captioned the video "Hello from the Melodi team," showcasing their camaraderie during PM Modi’s visit to the summit in southern Italy.

This was PM Modi’s first foreign visit since beginning his historic third term after winning the recently concluded Lok Sabha election in which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance led by his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government with a sizable majority. 

The two leaders also had a bilateral session on the sidelines of the G7 Summit during which PM Modi described his meeting with Meloni as productive, focusing on enhancing India-Italy relations in commerce, energy, defence, telecom, biofuels, food processing, and critical minerals. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Meloni congratulated PM Modi for his third consecutive term as Prime Minister.

The official statement further read, "While expressing happiness at growing trade and economic collaboration, they called for expanding commercial ties in clean energy, manufacturing, Space, S&T, telecom, AI, and critical minerals to build resilient supply chains. In this context, they welcomed the recent signing of an MoU on Industrial Property Rights (IPR) which provides a framework for cooperation on patents, designs, and trademarks."

PM Modi also met other world leaders during the summit meetings during which he reiterated the concerns of Global South countries. During his speech at the G7 Outreach event on Friday in Italy, he said that India has considered it its responsibility to put the priorities and concerns of countries of the Global South on the world stage.

Highlighting India’s role as a leader and advocate for these nations, PM Modi pointed to India’s presidency of the G20, during which the African Union was made a permanent member of the grouping. He also underscored the importance of international governance in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a topic prominently addressed at the G20 Summit hosted by India last year.