G7 Summit: Pull-aside meeting between Modi-Biden ends in shaking hands

New Delhi: An expected “pull-aside” meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Joe Biden failed to materialise on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy late on Friday night (IST) as the schedule was delayed by more than two hours.

The meeting was initially scheduled to take place for a full 50 minutes. Modi instead just met and shook hands with the US President after which he said both nations would continue to work together for the global good.

Photographs showed PM Modi shaking hands with President Biden and the two leaders warmly embracing each other. “It’s always a pleasure to meet President Joe Biden. India and USA will keep working together to further global good”, Modi had posted on social media platform X late on Friday night.

The 50-minute meeting was scheduled between the bilateral meetings of Modi with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. The initial indications that the meeting would not take place surfaced when Modi began the meeting with the Japanese PM soon after the bilateral meeting with the Italian PM ended. Modi’s speech at the outreach session of the summit itself was delayed due to the significant delays in the schedules.

The US media had reportedly pointed to the paucity of time as the reason why the US President could not have a regular bilateral meeting with several leaders attending the G7 Summit, including Modi.