Joe Biden to meet PM Modi in Japan on the sidelines of the G7 summit

PTI, May 17, 2023, 9:08 AM IST

US President Joe Biden would meet the prime ministers Narendra Modi of India and Anthony Albanese of Australia on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan, the White House said on Tuesday on the eve of the president leaving on his now-curtailed foreign trip.

“He (Biden) will also have the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the other members of the Quad, Prime Minister Modi of India and Prime Minister Albanese of Australia as well,” John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters at the White House during his briefing on the G7 trip.

Biden heads to Hiroshima, Japan to participate in the G7 summit. “Since the president took office, revitalising our alliances and partnerships, and reestablishing America’s leadership around the world has been one of his top priorities,” Kirby said.

“Thanks in no small part to his hard work during the G7, you will see that our allies and partners are more united than ever. Over the last 15 months, the G7 has stood in solidarity with Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, rallying the world to support Ukraine and cutting Putin off from the key technologies and financing around the globe,” he said.

“That solidarity with Ukraine is even stronger now than it was last year, and you will see concrete action to further isolate Russia and weaken its ability to wage its brutal war. And of course, this display of unity will extend to other key economic and security issues as well. G7 leaders will demonstrate that we share a common approach to the challenges posed by the PRC (People’s Republic of China), an approach that is grounded in common values,” Kirby said.

“We will also rally around the need for bold action to accelerate the clean energy transition, including by making President Biden’s economic agenda a blueprint for G7 action to address the climate crisis and create good jobs. We will present an affirmative agenda to take further action to support developing countries around the world,” he said.

“That means we are going to showcase how we are scaling President Biden and the G7’s flagship infrastructure initiative, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, otherwise called PGII, which has attracted major investors to better respond to the global demand for high quality infrastructure financing,” Kirby said.

“We will reaffirm our commitment to help institutions like the World Bank evolve so that they can more effectively address global challenges that directly affect its core mission of poverty reduction, including climate change. Now, the president will also have an opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Kishida on the margins, where they will discuss ways to further strengthen our mutual security, economic, multilateral cooperation, and of course look for ways to continue to improve our alliance with Japan,” he added.