A day after media reports claimed that the German government was considering snubbing India from the G7 summit due to its stand on the ongoing Russia Ukraine war, the German government has rejected such reports.
On Tuesday, Western media outlet Bloomberg had published a report claiming that the German government had decided not to invite India to the upcoming G7 summit scheduled to take place from June 26-28 at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps. In its report, Bloomberg had claimed that Germany is debating whether to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Group of Seven summit over its reluctance to condemn Russia for its military operations in Ukraine.
However, the German government quickly jumped to dismiss the Bloomberg report. It is believed that Germany is planning to not only invite India for the June summit but some other countries also. A formal invite is expected soon from Berlin to India. Germany is the chair of the grouping for this year and holds the meeting amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
“This is false,” the German government sources said, as cited by international reports on Tuesday.
A report by Wion News says that Germany has already informally intimated India about the invitation to the summit, and the formal invitation will be sent soon.
It is the fourth time India has been invited to the G7 summit since 2019. In 2019, France invited India to the G7 Summit in Biarritz as “a goodwill partner”.
The following year, in 2020, President Donald Trump had invited PM Modi to the G7 outreach summit at Camp David. However, the summit did not take place due to the Covid-19 crisis. Last year the UK had invited India for the G7 summit, but PM Modi could not travel due to the second Covid-19 wave in the country. PM Modi attended the summit virtually.
India was first formally invited to the G7 outreach summit in 2003 when France invited the then Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. G7, or the Group of Seven is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
