NB Explains | Why Modi's visit to Hiroshima for G7 meet is special?

New Delhi, May 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday embark on a six-day visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Australia to attend three key multilateral summits including the Group of Seven (G7) and the Quad, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

  

 

At the invitation of Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida, PM Modi will visit Hiroshima from 19-21 May to attend the G7 Summit under Japan’s presidency. The G7 sessions will provide a platform for discussions on various crucial subjects, including peace, stability, and prosperity of a sustainable planet, food, fertilizer, and energy security, health, gender equality, climate change and environment, resilient infrastructure, and development cooperation.

 

 

According to the ministry, prime minister Modi is scheduled to address the G7 sessions with partner countries, sharing India’s perspectives on these important issues. On the sidelines of the summit, he will also hold bilateral meetings with prime minister Fumio and other participating leaders.

 

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Hiroshima for the G7 leaders’ summit this Friday is the first visit to the Japanese city by an Indian Prime Minister since India conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1974. The last Indian PM to visit Hiroshima, which suffered the atomic bomb attack in 1945, was Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957. Modi, who reaches Hiroshima on May 19, will attend the G7 summit on May 20-21.

 

Modi’s visit to Hiroshima is significant as India is one of the few countries which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He will join the G7 leaders when they visit the Peace Memorial Park, dedicated to the victims and survivors of the attack.

 

From Japan’s perspective, it is an important moment since Japanese PM Fumio Kishida hails from Hiroshima, and his constituency is located in central Hiroshima city.

 

While Modi has attended three G7 summits in the past – twice in-person, in Biarritz, France (2019) and Elmau, Germany (2022), and once virtually (Cornwall, UK-2021).

 

Besides India, which holds the G20 presidency, the G7 grouping – Japan, Italy, Canada, France, US, UK and Germany — has invited the EU, Australia, Brazil, Comoros (African Union chair), the Cook Islands (Pacific Islands Forum chair), Indonesia (ASEAN chair), South Korea and Vietnam as invitees to the outreach session. The UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO and WTO will also attend the summit.

 

 

Under India's G20 presidency, India will try gain support from the G7 grouping for the priorities as the leaders of 12 countries of the G20 grouping will attend the G7 summit. Besides, PM Modi is expected to hold bilateral talks with some of them, besides addressing the G7 outreach session.

 

 

After Japan, PM Modi will travel to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he will co-host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation with Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, on May 22.

 

Launched in 2014, FIPIC includes India and 14 Pacific Island Countries — Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Nauru and Solomon Islands. This will be the first visit by an Indian PM to Papua New Guinea.

 

Thereafter, PM Modi will be in Sydney on May 22-24 for the Quad Leaders’ Summit, along with Australian PM Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and Japan PM Kishida. He will have a bilateral meeting with Albanese on May 24, interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders, and address the Indian diaspora in Sydney on May 23.