NEW DELHI: With barely three months to go for the G7 summit in Canada, suspense looms over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in the event. Modi has been a regular at G7 since 2019 but, asked about whether India will be invited for this year’s summit, host Canada told TOI no decision has been taken yet about participation of guest countries.
Canada’s ongoing G7 presidency will see it hosting the summit on June 15-17 in Kananaskis (Alberta) at a time its bilateral ties with India remain frosty and in the middle of an unprecedented crisis with the US provoked by a nasty tariff war. The foreign ministers of the group of economically most advanced nations put up a show of unity in Charlevoix earlier this month reaffirming their “unwavering” support for Ukraine but the G7 has been riddled with concerns about Trump’s treatment of allies and his reluctance to call out Russia for its aggression.
“No decisions on summit invitations have been taken at this time. More information will be made available in due time,” said a Canadian official with the G7 media relations team. Both Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh have in the past been invited for G7 summits. Modi, in fact, has been a regular since 2019, when French President Emmanuel Macron invited him for the meeting in Biarritz. Then the Trump administration too had invited him for the Camp David summit in 2020, although it was called off later because of Covid-19.
It’s learnt that former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, widely blamed for wrecking ties with India with his slapdash approach to the Khalistan murder plot, may have left the choice of guests to his successor. The new Canadian PM, Mark Carney, has said he wants to rebuild ties with India but is currently saddled with the unenviable task of dealing with Trump’s adventurism. Carney has also said he wants to create trading relationships with new partners, and to build the strongest economy in the G7. Apparently, limited space at the summit venue might also be a factor in having very few, or even no, guest leaders.
Carney has so far been silent on Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing that caused a dramatic downturn in ties, including a downgrading of the diplomatic relationship. India has said it hopes to rebuild ties based on mutual trust and sensitivity but will probably wait to see the outcome of the next elections that Carney is likely to call soon and will be held, according to reports from Canada, on April 28. While it’s fashionable here to blame Trudeau for the current status of ties, RCMP, which has investigated the case, maintains that Trudeau’s position was informed by information provided by the agency.
