G-20 SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON FOOD, ENERGY SECURITY

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Bali on Monday to attend the G-20 summit on November 15 and 16. Food and energy security and post-COVID health issues will be at the top of the agenda in sessions at the summit in the Indonesian city.
  • Officials said Mr. Modi will meet with “several” G-20 leaders, but would not confirm who they were. He will also address the Indian community in Bali, and visit a mangrove forest.
  • Modi will also use the opportunity to invite all other G-20 leaders to the next summit in India in September 2023. “This G-20 summit is particularly special because India will hold the presidency of the G-20 from December 1, 2022 for a one-year period, and the presidency handover will take place during the summit in Bali,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a briefing.
  • Modi will discuss plans for India’s presidency of the G-20, environment and gender issues and a “greater voice for the global south in issues of international economic cooperation, [and] the need for reformed 21st century institutions,” he said.
  • Asked about the possibility of Mr. Modi meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping or Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who cancelled his visit to India on Sunday at the last minute due to “scheduling difficulties”, Mr. Kwatra said, “Bilateral engagements with the other leaders are still in the process of being scheduled.”
  • Ahead of a possible meeting between Mr. Modi and U.S. President Joseph Biden, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Cambodia on the sidelines of East Asia Summit.
  • There they discussed the war in Ukraine, Indo-Pacific strategy, energy issues, the G-20 and Indo-U.S. bilateral relations, Mr. Jaishankar tweeted.
  • “The U.S. supports India’s G20 presidency,” Mr. Blinken said in a tweet, adding that their discussions focussed on “ongoing efforts to expand our partnership & mitigate the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
  • Modi will reach Bali on Monday evening, skipping the B-20 business forum being concluded that day at which Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will give keynote addresses and several global business leaders, including Twitter head Elon Musk, will speak.
  • On Tuesday, he will attend two working sessions on food and energy security and “Health Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” followed by a dinner for all G-20 leaders.
  • He will also meet with the Indian community that evening and address the diaspora living in Bali. On Wednesday, the leaders will visit the Indonesian mangroves of Taman Hutan Raya, venerated by Balinese Hindus, which has been restored over a 30-year project covering nearly 700 acres today.
  • They will hold a third G-20 session on digital transformation, and Mr. Modi is expected to leave Bali on the November 16th afternoon itself.
  • G-20 Sherpas are in the midst of several rounds of talks on a “Joint Communique”, which has, according to sources, run into trouble over paragraphs that deal with the Russian war in Ukraine and the Western sanctions against Russia that have led to food and energy shortages.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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