The United Kingdom has invited India for an in-person G7 foreign ministers meeting that will take place in London from May 3 to 5. The UK, as the chair of the grouping for this year, has invited India, along with Australia, South Korea, South Africa, and the Chair and Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The meeting in London will be the first in-person summit of the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, US and UK as well as the European Union (EU) and will be held in what has been dubbed a Covid-secure way between May 3 and 5. A key focus of the meet will be on the COVID crisis, even as the pandemic continues to ravage large parts of the world. Climate Change will be the other big focus area, given the UK also hosts the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) meet later this year. It is also likely to include external affairs minister S Jaishankar for parts of the summit, with India included among the guest nations from the Indo-Pacific region. G7 is a grouping of seven industrialized countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, US & UK – plus the EU. This will be the first physical G7 meet to take place in over two years, the last being in Dinard and Saint-Malo, France in April 2019.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the plans for the meeting in Parliament on Tuesday, highlighting that the event would be an opportunity for the world’s biggest democracies to come together.
