Italian PM Meloni Invites India to G7 Summit meeting in June 2024
Summit and Conference
6 min read
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Group of Seven (G7) Outreach session to be held in Borgo Egnazia, Apulia, Italy, from 13 to 15 June 2024. The 2024 G7 presidency is with Italy.
PM Meloni called PM Modi and personally extended the invitation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his post on the social media platform X(formerly Twitter), thanked PM Meloni and extended his greetings to Italy on the celebrations of its Liberation Day.
Italy observes 25 April as Liberation Day to celebrate the liberation of the country from the Nazi occupation and the end of fascist rule.
General election is underway in India, and the election result is to be declared on 4 June 2024. The newly elected prime minister will represent India in the G7 outreach session.
G7 Summit and its Outreach Programme
The host country of the G7 has the right to invite important non-member countries and international organisations to take part in the annual summit meeting of the group.
These meetings in which the member countries of G7 and the invited non-members participate are called the “Outreach Sessions”. Matters of regional and international issues are discussed at these outreach sessions.
India’s Participation in the G7 Outreach Session
The first Indian prime minister to get an invitation to participate in the G7 Outreach session was Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003. France was, at the time, the host of the G7.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has attended five such meetings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended the G7 outreach session in 2019,2021,2022,2023 (four times). The 2020 G7 summit to be hosted by the US was cancelled due to the Covid.
What is the G7 Group ?
The G7 is an informal group of seven most industalised democratic countries which has no permanent secretariat of its own . The G7 was created on the initiative of France to discuss the crisis due to the sudden increase in crude petroleum oils by Arab countries in 1973. The sudden increase in crude petroleum oil is also known as the first global oil shock.
G7 was to be an informal group to discuss global economic issues and formulate a coordinated response to such economic issues. Later on, it started discussing global challenges, including peace and security, counter-terrorism, development, education, health, the environment and climate change.
Members of G7
Initially, the group started as G6 with six members- France, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Italy.
In 1976, it became G7, with Canada becoming its seventh member.
In 1997, it became G8 with the inclusion of Russia. However, Russia was later expelled from the group in 2014 after it annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine. After the expulsion of Russia, the group was again renamed G 7.
The European Union has participated in the G7 meetings since 1977. The European Union is jointly represented by the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.
Summit Meeting
The first Summit meeting of the Heads of State and Government of G7 was held in 1975 in Rambouillet, France.
Every year, a member of the G7 hosts the annual summit.
The host country, also known as the G7 presidency, rotates annually among member countries in the following order: France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada.
Italy currently holds the G7 presidency and will host the 50th G7 Summit in Apulia from June 13 to 15, 2024.
