Rome: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Vatican City on Saturday to hold his first-ever one-on-one meeting with Pope Francis, as part of his Rome visit for the G20 Summit. PM Modi is the 5th Indian Prime Minister to visit the head of Roman Catholics, the largest religious denomination in the world. PM was accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to meet the Pope.
Modi has a busy week ahead with high profile meetings at the G20 summit in Italy and the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. He will be in Glasgow on the first two days of November. Yesterday, PM Modi met his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi and the 2 leaders discussed issues of bilateral and mutual interests. PM Modi, who arrived in Italy earlier in the day, was received by Draghi at Palazzo Chigi for their first in-person meeting. He was also accorded a guard of honour.
PM Modi arrived in Italy on Friday to participate in the 2-day Summit. He will be in Rome from October 29th to October 31st to attend the G20 Summit at the invitation of Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The theme of this G20 meet under the Italian Presidency is centred around ‘People, Planet and Prosperity. This summit will be the 8th G20 Summit attended by the Prime Minister.