Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the tenth upcoming G20 meeting in Argentina on November 30, the Ministry of External Affairs said Tuesday.
Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year — at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June in China’s Qingdao, and the BRICS Summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg in July.
Briefing the media about the G20 summit, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, “At the tenth anniversary of the G20, it’s our expectation that leaders will reflect on what has been achieved in past 10 years and what could be done in next 10 years.”
The meeting is being held amid the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
“Our interest is two-fold that the G20 issue is not hijacked by the single issue of trade, whether it is between two countries or otherwise.
“And secondly how we can constructively reform the WTO which serves India’s interest and which is multilateral. That is going to be one of the focal points of this G20 meeting, or certainly of India’s position at the G20 meeting,” Gokhale said.
When asked about a meeting between PM Modi and US president Trump, Gokhale said, ” India is working on various bilateral meetings during the upcoming summit.”
There will be a number of bilateral meetings during the visit. The foreign secretary said Modi will also meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Mauricio Macri, the President of Argentina; Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He will also meet the prime ministers of Spain, Jamaica, the Netherlands and the president of the European Union and European Council. A bilateral meeting between Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron is also being worked out, Gokhale said.
Leaders from across the globe are expected to dwell of the meeting’s theme: “building consensus for fair and sustainable development”. The meeting is divided into three sections which are “putting people first”, “building consensus” and “embracing opportunity.”
India is expected to highlight challenges, including the risks posed by oil price volatility which has directly impacted the Indian economy, and the digital revolution considering how it can lead to employment opportunity, India’s Foreign Secretary said.
The prime minister, he said, will also speak on his flag programmes like the Jan Dhan Yojana, the Mudra scheme, Ayushman Bharat, soil health card in the G20 Summit.
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