Pope, Modi to join G7 leaders at summit: programme

AFP | Rome, Italy

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Pope Francis and Indian premier Narendra Modi will join G7 leaders this week during a summit focussed notably on Ukraine and the Middle East, according to a programme released Tuesday.

Against a backdrop of rising global tensions, the June 13- 15 summit will see leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations, including US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and Japanese premier Fumio Kishida, gather at the luxury southern Italian resort of Borgo Egnazia. Other guests have been invited by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to round out the event, but they will not participate in official G7 discussions.

They include Pope Francis -- who will attend a session on artificial intelligence -- and Modi. They also include several African leaders: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Tunisia's Kais Saied, Kenyan President William Ruto and Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the president of Mauritania.

Africa, climate change and development are the topics of the opening session on Thursday. They will be followed by a session devoted to the Middle East and then talks on Ukraine -- considered the top focus of the summit and attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- before an official dinner.

The guest list published Tuesday also includes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Argentine President Javier Milei and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from Brazil -- which holds the rotating presidency of the G20. Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also plans to attend, as does Jordanian King Abdullah II, according to the list.

Italian diplomatic sources had suggested Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would attend, but his name did not appear on Tuesday's list.

From the G7 nations Britain, Germany and Canada come Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, respectively. Friday's programme will feature talks on migration, the Indo-Pacific and economic security, followed by the discussion on artificial intelligence attended by Pope Francis.

The summit is expected to wrap up by 7:00 pm local time (1700 GMT) Friday, with a final press conference from Meloni on Saturday afternoon.