Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a one-on-one interaction with Pope Francis at the Vatican City on Saturday, 30 October. He was accompanied by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.
He is the fifth Indian Prime Minister to have visited the head of Roman Catholics, the largest religious denomination in the world.
PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Rome for the G20 Summit.
"PM Modi had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The meeting was scheduled only for 20 minutes but went on for an hour. PM and the Pope discussed a wide range of issues aimed at making our planet better such as fighting climate change and removing poverty," sources told ANI.
"I believe tradition is not to have an agenda when you discuss issues with His Holiness. And I think we respect that. I'm sure the issues that will be covered would cover a range of areas of interests in terms of the general global perspectives and issues that are important to all of us," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters on Friday, 29 October.
PM Modi has reportedly invited Pope Francis to visit India. The last Papal Visit happened in 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister and Pope John Paul II visited India.
Even before the government officially announced the visit, the president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal George Alenchery, issued a statement that it would “add more energy and warmth to the relations between our country and the Vatican and the Catholic Church”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday, 30 October.
Modi met Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the top leaders of the European Union in Rome earlier on Friday, 29 October, ahead of the G20 Summit, which is scheduled for Saturday.
"The leaders discussed ways to enhance economic as well as people-to-people linkages aimed at creating a better planet," Modi had tweeted.
EU Congratulates India on Progress in COVID Vaccination
The Prime Minister, who arrived in Rome earlier in the day, received a warm welcome from the Indian community in Rome. He also paid floral tributes at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Rome.
He then interacted with members of the Indian community based in Italy on academics and spirituality.
He began his official engagements with a “productive interaction” with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
“Wonderful meeting with @EU_Commission President @vonderleyen and @eucopresident Charles Michel. We had wide-ranging talks on deepening the India-EU friendship, particularly in areas such as trade, commerce, culture, and the environment,” Modi tweeted.
Michel had tweeted, "India has a key role to play in green transition. We discussed global health and fighting the pandemic, the strong EU-India Strategic Partnership, the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific."
Leyen tweeted: “Good to meet @narendramodi. Our strategic agenda is on the right track. We agreed that our trade negotiators will start to work. We‘ll deepen our cooperation on climate including on innovation and technology. Looking forward to cooperating in the Indo-Pacific.”
She also congratulated India for its “excellent progress” on vaccination against the coronavirus pandemic and for resuming vaccine exports.
“We need to join forces to help vaccinate the world and beat the global pandemic,” Leyen said.
India crossed a major milestone last week after administering a billion doses to its people.
“Deepening ties between India and EU! PM @narendramodi met European Council President Charles Michel @eucopresident & European Commission President @vonderleyen. An extensive discussion covering trade & investment ties, climate change, COVID-19, global & regional developments (sic),” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.
The MEA said in a statement that the leaders reviewed India-EU cooperation covering political, security, trade, investment, and economic cooperation as well as the Roadmap2025 that was agreed at the last India-EU Summit. They discussed climate change too extensively.
Situation in Afghanistan Could Not Be Seen in Isolation: PM Modi
Commenting on the crisis in Afghanistan, PM Modi said the situation in Afghanistan could not be seen in isolation. The international community should be wary of any form of intimidation or threat emerging out of the war-torn country, he said.
He pointed out that the source of the problems in Afghanistan was "radicalism, extremism, and terrorism, and the consequence of this had to be very, very carefully examined," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said during a press conference.
Modi had also stressed upon the need to offer humanitarian assistance.
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