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India is a natural ally of G7: PM Modi

NEW DELHI: On the second day of the Outreach Sessions of the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in two sessions titled ‘Building Back Together - Open Societies and Economies’ and ‘Building Back Greener: Climate and Nature’ and speaking in the first session he said that India is a natural ally for the G7 countries that share common values and concerns.

"India is a natural ally for the G7 countries in defending the shared values from a host of threats stemming from authoritarianism, terrorism and violent extremism, disinformation and economic coercion," Modi said.

PM Modi who could not attend the two days G7 Summit held in Cornwall, UK, in person due to the COVID-19 situation, however, he did attend the summit virtually. It was Modi's second G7 summit after Biarritz in France in 2019 where he attended in person. 

Invited to speak as a Lead Speaker in the session on Open Societies, PM recalled that democracy and freedom were a part of India’s civilizations ethos. He shared the concern expressed by several Leaders that open societies are particularly vulnerable to disinformation and cyber-attacks and stressed the need to ensure that cyberspace remains an avenue for advancing democratic values and not of subverting it. 

Highlighting the non-democratic and unequal nature of global governance institutions, PM called for the reform of the multilateral system as the best signal of commitment to the cause of Open Societies. The leaders adopted the ‘Open Societies Statement’ at the end of the meeting.

In a briefing today the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India's engagement in the G7 Summit was fruitful and productive. P Harish, additional secretary (economic relations), MEA, said, "I can say without hesitation that India's engagement with the G7 and guest countries stand on its own."

Harish said, "This is also the first time that India has been engaged at a ministerial level and a working level tracks as a guest country. This is a significant engagement."

Yesterday PM Modi participated in the first Outreach Session of the G7 Summit titled ‘Building Back Stronger - Health’, focused on global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and on strengthening resilience against future pandemics. 

The G7 comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States and as the chair of G7, UK invited India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa to the summit as guest countries.

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  • Venkatesh Raghavan
    Venkatesh Raghavan

    Venkatesh, Venky to his friends is our Consulting Editor. He is one of the most senior journalist in the field, with over three decades of experience in some of the top media houses. He keeps a keen eye on current affairs across the world.

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