External Affairs Minister is expected to attend the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali this week along with Chinese FM Wang Yi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as Ministers of the world’s largest economies are hosted by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
The meeting on July 7-8 comes ahead of two summits: the G-20 summit in November this year, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State Council in Uzbekistan in September, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since the April 2020 standoff at the Line of Actual Control. Pakistan’s new PM Shehbaz Sharif is also expected to attend the SCO Council meeting on September 15-16.
Diplomatic sources told The Hindu that both summits will be held in person for the first time since the Covid pandemic and Prime Minister Modi has already been invited to both. India will host the SCO meet and the G-20 Summit in 2023, making Mr. Modi’s presence more important.
