PM Modi to travel to Rome for G20 Summit & UK for COP26; will attend ASEAN-India virtually

In a significant development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to take part in a number of summits this fortnight which will include travel abroad. The first on the list for the Prime Minister is the ASEAN-India Summit, which he will attend virtually. Following this are the G20 Summit in Italy's Rome and the COP26 Summit in Scotland's Glasgow, which he will attend in person along with other world leaders.

Upcoming summits PM Modi will attend

Virtual summit: 

• ASEAN-India Summit- October 27-28

Being hosted by Brunei, the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summit that has 'We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper' as its theme,  will have in attendance apart from India, leaders  of China Japan, The Republic of Korea, Australia, the United States and New Zealand. The leaders of the countries in the Summit are going to discuss a gamut of issues starting from COVID-19 and its impact to post COVID-19 recovery, as well as key regional and global developments. 

This series marks the conclusion Brunei Darussalam's role as ASEAN chair. The ASEAN Chairmanship will after the Summit be handed over to Cambodia. 

In-person participation: 

• G20 Summit in Rome, Italy - October 30-31

The G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will be the 16th edition of the Summit. Last year- 2020, the Summit was held virtually because of the COVID crisis. The Summit, which is the first-ever physical G-20 summit after the pandemic, will not only have PM Modi in participation but also him holding bilaterals with Italy's leadership on key issues of mutual interest such as mobility of Indians, defence partnership, partnership in sectors such as small and medium enterprises. Only last year, Indian and Italy had entered into 15 Memorandums of Understanding on areas auch as energy, media, finance among others.  

• COP26 Summit in Glasgow, UK-November 1-2

The COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference, hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy, will take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, UK. The Summit besides PM Modi, will have in attendance the President of the United States Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, French President Emmanuel Macron among others. The world leaders in the summit are going to discuss the various ways to collaborate and tackle the pressing issue of climate change. 

PM Modi's foreign visits amid COVID 

PM Modi's Europe visit will be his 3rd foreign visit amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Before this, India's Prime Minister visited Bangladesh in March and the United States in September. On his visit to Bangladesh, PM Modi with his counterpart in Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina discussed various issues including Commerce and connectivity, coooperation and water resources, security, defense among others and also entered into five Memorandum of Understandings. 

During his visit to the US,  PM Modi met with 5 top CEOs and had bilateral meetings with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga. Later, the four QUAD partners - US (Joe Biden), Japan (Yoshihide Suga), India (PM Modi), Australia (Scott Morrison) held a joint meeting and vowed to bolster infrastructure, 5G, ASEAN cooperation, COVID vaccine partnership and announced a new  ‘Quad fellowship’ for STEM.

PM Modi then held his first in-person bilateral meeting with Biden after the latter was elected in 2020 and discussed trade, India's permanent UNSC seat, Afghanistan situation, Indo-Pacific challenges and COVID efforts. PM Modi then addressed the UNGA for the fourth time and later the Global Citizen programme, marking an end to his 3-day tour.