PM Narendra Modi participates in 16th G20 Leaders' Summit, first in-person summit since Covid

As the Prime Minister arrived at the venue, Roma Convention Centre, he was welcomed warmly by Italian Prime Minister Draghi.

The two shook hands warmly and also shared a brief warm hug, before posing for pictures.

Later, Prime Minister Modi joined the other world leaders of the G20 for a group photo.

New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was also present at the gathering, as well as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted:

"People, Planet and Prosperity! An apt theme for the Summit of the top 20 economies.

"PM @narendramodi welcomed by the Italian PM Mario Draghi at the Rome Convention Centre ‘La Nuvola’ as the #G20RomeSummit is set to begin."

Session I of the G20 Summit is on Global Economy and Global Health, and is slated to last for over two hours. It is a closed summit.

The Prime Minister will later hold bilateral meetings with the President of France Emmanuel Macron, and Indonesia Joko Widodo, and with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The G20 summit "will allow us to take stock of the current global situation and exchange ideas on how the G20 can be an engine for strengthening economic resilience and building back inclusively and sustainably from the pandemic”, the Prime Minister had said earlier.

Italy's theme for its G20 presidency is ‘People, Planet, Prosperity’.

The focus of Italy is on recovery from the pandemic, and strengthening global health governance, economic recovery and resilience, climate change and energy transition and sustainable development and food security.

“India fully supports the priority areas chosen by Italy and the government to tackle the global financial crisis of 2008. It responded effectively to the crisis, thus becoming the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Since then, the G20 agenda has gradually expanded to include a number of issues of socio-economic importance, with strong emphasis on achievement of sustainable development and climate goals,” Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at a briefing on Friday.

“The G20 represents approximately 80% of the world's GDP, 75% of global trade, and 60% of the world's population. Thus the G20 has emerged as not only the premier global forum for international economic cooperation, but also an important platform to exchange, innovate and deliberate on policy issues that have a direct and tangible impact on the quality of life of our citizens, and this could be in the areas of global financial stability, sustainable finance, infrastructure, health, food security, education, labour, employment, energy and climate change, digital economy, women's empowerment, and innovation and this is just to name a few.

"The G20’s success and continued relevance can be measured by its immediate response to the COVID 19 pandemic and its focus on sustainable and resilient economic recovery from the pandemic,” the Foreign Secretary said.

The G20 members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.