Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that his presence in the G7 Summit in Hiroshima is of particular significance for India as it comes at a time when the country is holding the G20 Presidency.

“I look forward to exchanging views with the G7 countries and other invited partners on challenges that the world faces and the need to collectively address them. I would also be holding bilateral meetings with some of the leaders attending the Hiroshima G7 Summit,” Modi said in his departure statement on Friday ahead of his visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Modi is attending the Summit at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The G7 is an informal group of leading industrialised democracies comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The G7 Summit is set to take place on May 20-21.

Modi’s visit to Hiroshima assumes significance as Jawaharlal Nehru was the last Indian Prime Minister to visit the city. Nehru visited the city in 1957, years after it was devastated by the atomic bomb attack in 1945.

In terms of diplomacy, this is seen as a sensitive visit as India is one of the few countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

With the country’s clean track record as a responsible nuclear power and its no first-use policy on nuclear weapons, India has no reasons for being uncomfortable, an official said.

After Japan, Modi will visit Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he will co-host the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) along with James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, on May 22.

Also read: President Biden to host PM Modi for Official State Visit to US on June 22: White House

“I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important Summit. FIPIC had been launched during my visit to Fiji in 2014, and I look forward to engaging with the PIC leaders on issues that bring us together such as climate change and sustainable development, capacity building and training, health and well-being, infrastructure and economic development,” he said.

Modi will then travel to Sydney, Australia, at the invitation of his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.

“I look forward to our bilateral meeting, which will be an opportunity to take stock of our bilateral ties and follow up on our first India-Australia Annual Summit held in New Delhi in March this year,” he said.

Modi will also interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders, and meet the Indian community in Sydney at a special event.

The meeting of the leaders of the Quad countries, including the US, Japan, India and Australia, originally scheduled in Sydney next week, has been postponed as the US President Joe Biden pulled out of it in view of debt ceiling negotiations in Washington.

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