Published 15:12 IST, December 15th 2020
UK PM invites PM Modi to attend G7 summit next year after proposing 'D10' idea
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on December 15 formally invited India to attend the G7 Summit in 2021 which is being called ‘D10’ denoting ten Democracies.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on December 15 formally invited India to attend the G7 Summit in 2021 which is being called ‘D10’ denoting ten Democracies. Following his bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Raab said that he is “pleased” to extend the invite and said Britain is ‘looking forward’ to taking the spot in the summit and the G7 presidency along with the leadership of United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference. British Foreign Secretary also welcomed India’s return to the UN Security Council.
This year, the G7 grouping will also reportedly witness an expansion and would include ten democracies across the globe. While the United States had proposed calling the summit in 2021 as ‘G7+4’, the host UK wants G7+3 and is naming it D10 meaning, 10 Democracies excluding Russia. Apart from the G7 nations, Britain has proposed a new alliance of democracies including India, South Korea and Australia with a motive to hamper China’s monopoly on 5G technology.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “I'm pleased that PM Boris Johnson has invited PM Modi to join the UK-hosted G7 summit next year.”
“We look forward to taking the spot in 2021 including the UK's presidency of G7 & also our presidency of UN Climate Change Conference. We welcome India's return to UN Security Council,” he added.
UK wants to ‘deepen economic partnership’ with India
In the joint news briefing after meeting Jaishankar, Raab said that the UK is hoping to ‘deepen’ the partnership with India on the economic front. The British foreign secretary relayed UK’s ‘commitment’ of building a stronger defence system as well as a security partnership with India which would further help both the nations in tackling the common concerns including terrorism, privacy in Western Indian Ocean.
“We want to deepen our economic partnership with India...We're committed to building a stronger defence & security partnership with India, that will help us tackle shared issues related to terrorism, maritime security including piracy in Western Indian ocean,” said Raab.
Updated 15:10 IST, December 15th 2020