Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other world leaders on the margins of the G-20 Summit to be held in the Argentina capital Buenos Aires on 30 November-1 December.
Briefing the media on the PM’s visit to Argentina beginning on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale indicated that the PM could also have bilateral meetings or pull-asides with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. ”We are still working on bilaterals or pull-asides that the PM will have,” he added.
On the Modi-Xi meeting, he said this would be the fourth such interaction between the two leaders in the space of seven months, reflecting the importance the two countries were giving to each other in the wake of last summer’s 73-day military stand-off at Doklam.
The two leaders had an informal summit in April when they decided to meet regularly to build mutual trust and understanding between their two nations. They had again met in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June on the margins of the SCO Summit and in Johannesburg on the fringes of the BRICS Summit in July.
Media Briefing by Foreign Secretary on upcoming visit of PM to Argentina for G20 https://t.co/uYJvTxURnq
— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) November 27, 2018
About the summit, Gokhale said India expected the leaders to reflect on what has been achieved during the last ten years after the G-20 Summit process began in 2008 in the wake of global financial crisis and what the world could look forward to. The theme of the summit this year was ‘Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development’.
In his address, the PM will speak about the risks posed by oil prices volatility and the global digital revolution. He will also highlight economic reforms and various social schemes launched by his government. He will also talk about the significance of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).