Today is the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day Italy and UK tour to participate in the G-20 Summit. On the second day of his visit, PM Modi arrived at the Vatican City to hold a one-on-one meeting with Pope Francis. He is accompanied by NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. The meeting is scheduled to last for 30 minutes.
Narendra Modi is the fifth Indian Prime Minister to visit the head of Roman Catholics, the largest religious denomination in the world. Earlier, Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, I K Gujral, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had met the then Pope who is the head of the sovereign of the Vatican City State.
“The Prime Minister will have a separate call. He will be meeting his Holiness on a one-on-one basis. And that could, after a certain period of time, be followed up by delegation-level talks,” Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters on Friday. However, he clarified that there was no agenda laid out for the talks.
“COVID-19, health issues, how we can work together…And this is something that, I think would be the general trend in the discussions,” Foreign Secretary added.
#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Vatican City to meet Pope Francis
He is accompanied by NSA Ajit Doval and EAM Dr S Jaishankar pic.twitter.com/JZiMbXUtLN
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021
Later the Prime Minister will depart to attend the 16th G-20 summit where a host of issues including the global economic situation, COVID-19 pandemic, sustainable development and climate change will be discussed. Thereafter PM Modi will participate in bilateral meetings with President of France Emmanuel Macron, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo and Singapore counterpart Lee Hosein Loong.
