G20 Summit: PM Modi to hold over 15 bilateral meets; Hasina, Biden on list, say sources
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold more than 15 bilateral meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, sources said.
The G20 Summit, which will be held in New Delhi over the coming weekend, will be attended by most of the top leaders of the world.
On September 8, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of Mauritius, Bangladesh and the US. On September 9, in addition to the G20 Summit, the prime minister will hold bilateral meetings with the UK, Japan, Germany and Italy. On the next day, PM Modi will hold a working lunch meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
He will do a pull-aside meeting with Canada and bilateral meetings with Comoros, Turkiye, UAE, South Korea, EU/EC, Brazil and Nigeria, the sources said.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to be accompanied by her daughter Saima Wazed during her trip to India to attend the G20 summit, reports indicated. Hasina will be inaugurating a rail link with Tripura and the second unit of the Rampal power plant along with PM Modi, virtually from Delhi at functions on the sideline of the G20 meeting.
She will also sign several agreements including a deal which will facilitate a Rupee-Taka card for citizens of both countries to pay in local currency instead of in dollars while travelling to the other.
PM Modi will also hold bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden, who will arrive in New Delhi on Friday evening.
While President Biden will be offered dinner on Friday but it depends on jet-lag, President Macron is inclined to have lunch with PM Modi on Sunday afternoon along with bilateral talks.
While the Ukraine war and its impact on the global economy will be the political conversation during the G20 Summit, PM Modi’s priority focus will be to use the gathering to focus on the global south and put a priority tag on the 17 sustainable development goals as a 2021 UN report had shown that the global pandemic played havoc with them.
The UN report indicated that in addition to four million deaths at the time of the report, between 119-124 million people were pushed into poverty and chronic hunger, and the equivalent of 255 million jobs were lost during the disease which had origins in Wuhan in China.
PM Modi expected to promote green development understanding
While the financial commitments of the developed nations are still awaited for climate change challenges, PM Modi is expected to promote green development understanding and green goals to protect the future from climate-related disasters. In this context, PM Modi will pitch for millets to be the answer for global food security as the grain has the ability to survive in tough climatic conditions and high temperatures.
While developed nations need to provide financial backing and technology to dis-incentivize the global south from using coal for power generation, PM Modi will push for change in global lifestyle or what he calls mission LIFE for protecting the environment.
Last but most important of PM Modi’s pitch at the G-20 will be women development and empowerment as this has taken a global regression in the wake of the global pandemic. This will be part of PM Modi’s vision of inclusion where no one is left behind and he has been successful in achieving this domestically through “antodhya” programmes.
Having said that, there will be last-minute political manoeuvrings among the global leaders to come to a consensus on how to promote global economic growth and development—the real reason for which the G20 was formed.