New Delhi: Attending the G7 summit virtually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (June 13) underlined India's commitment to democracy, freedom of thought and liberty.
He stressed the need for open and democratic societies to work together and strengthen each other, the ministry of external affairs said in a statement.
“At G7 summit, Modi underscored vulnerability inherent in open societies and called on tech firms to ensure safe cyber environment,” P Harish, Additional Secretary (Economic Relations) MEA, said.
The prime minister also spoke on the issue of climate change, asserting that India is on track to meet its Paris commitments.
“PM Modi today spoke in 2 sessions on climate change and open societies. On climate change, PM called for collective action, recognizing that this challenge can't be addressed in silos. He shared that India is the only G20 country on track to meet its Paris commitments,” Harish said.
Calling on the G7 to demonstrate leadership, PM Modi sought their strong support for India and South Africa's proposal for a TRIPS waiver at WTO.
The UK PM Boris Johnson expressed his disappointment at not being able to welcome PM Modi in person at the summit.
The theme selected by the UK for this year's summit was "Build back better" in reference to the devastating impact of the pandemic over the past 18 months & the need for policy-driven ambitious and targeted recovery measures.
The three broad tracks of discussion over the past two days focused on vaccines and recovery from COVID-19, environment and climate change, open societies, and open economies.
““This is for the first time that India has been engaged in ministerial and working-level tracks as a guest country,” MEA said.
“Our engagement was fruitful, productive and we hope to take forward our engagement in various initiatives including in the run up to COP26,” the ministry added.
