16th G20 Summit 2021 Highlights: Leaders adopt Rome Declaration; PM Modi calls G20 Summit 'fruitful'

Prime Minister Modi had reached Italy to attend the 16th G20 Summit which was scheduled to be held in Rome on October 30-31, 2021. He paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his first day of arrival in Rome and he also called on Pope Francis in the Vatican during his two-day visit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rome and the Vatican City from October 29 to October 31, 2021, at the invitation of Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi.

As the G20 Summit 2021 concludes, Prime Minister has now landed in Glasgow, United Kingdom, on November 1-2 for the COP26 meeting. He will be visiting the country at the invitation of UK PM Boris Johnson.

Joined the @g20org leaders at Rome’s beautiful Trevi Fountain. pic.twitter.com/cKDjrKmbOI

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 31, 2021

PM Modi attends session of G20 Summit on climate change: Highlights

• Prime Minister Modi, along with other leaders of G20, have agreed that the WHO will be strengthened to fast-track the process for emergency use authorization for COVID-19 Vaccines.

• Adoption of Rome Declaration: The G20 leaders have also adopted the Rome Declaration giving a strong message under the health section where the leaders agreed that COVID immunisation is a global public good. 

• The G20 leaders, during the session, identified sustainable and responsible consumption and production along with the provision of finance and technology as critical enablers of achieving the Climate Goals. 

• As clean energy and innovation will play a significant role in the years to come, the energy security and energy markets have also been recognized by the G20 Leaders.

• G20 Leaders commit to Paris Agreement: The G20 Leaders said that they remain committed to the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global average temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue the efforts of limiting it to 1.5 degree celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Leaving for Glasgow after a fruitful @g20org Summit in Rome. During the Summit, we were able to have elaborate deliberations on issues of global importance such as fighting the pandemic, improving health infrastructure, boosting economic cooperation and furthering innovation. pic.twitter.com/LBN17RFkah

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 31, 2021

PM Modi participates in session on 'Global Economy and Global Health' of 16th G20 Summit 2021

• Prime Minister Modi, in his intervention at the first session of the G20 Summit, highlighted India's contribution to fighting against COVID-19. He mentioned India's medical supplies to over 150 countries. He also spoke about India's vision of  'One Earth, One Health' which is essentially a collaborative approach in the fight against COVID-19.

In his intervention at the first session, PM highlighted India's contribution to fight against COVID. He mentioned India's medical supplies to over 150 countries &spoke about our vision of One Earth, One Health which is essentially collaborative approach in fight against COVID:FS https://t.co/fWwEXUTx8F pic.twitter.com/DxnNXApHyK

— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021

•  PM Modi, during his session, conveyed that India is ready to produce 5 billion vaccine doses by the end of next year. WHO's EUA for Covaxin will also facilitate this process of assisting other nations. 

#WATCH | G20 Summit | PM conveyed that India is ready to produce 5 billion vaccine doses by the end of next year... We also believe that WHO's EUA for Covaxin would felicitate this process of assisting other countries: FS Harsh Vardhan Shringla in Rome pic.twitter.com/yAbFS9HwGl

— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021

• Prime Minister has invited the G20 Countries to make India their partner in the economic recovery and supply chain diversification. 

PM Modi invited G20 countries to make India their partner in economic recovery & supply chain diversification. He also brought out the fact that despite challenges of the pandemic, India continued to be a trusted partner in context of reliable supply chains:FS HV Shringla in Rome pic.twitter.com/wyjWr1KhFZ

— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021

• Global energy crisis was also raised in the meeting, however, the first meeting of G20 was focused on health issues. 

G20 Summit | Global energy crisis was raise in the meeting. However, the first meeting of the G20 was focused on health issues: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in Rome, Italy pic.twitter.com/2pDeeqyxwa

— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021

Theme of 16th G20 Summit 2021

The theme of the 16th G20 Summit 2021 is People, Planet, and Prosperity and it has come from the 2030 UN Agenda for sustainable development.

16th G20 Summit 2021

• Prime Minister Modi will attend the G20 Summit at the invitation of Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The 16th G20 summit will be held on October 30-31, 2021.

• This will be Prime Minister’s eighth G20 Summit. In 2020, the summit was hosted virtually by Saudi Arabia because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Prime Minister Modi had attended the last in-person summit in 2019 in Osaka.

G20 Summit 2021: Focus

The 16th G20 Summit 2021 hosted by Italy will focus on the recovery from the pandemic, economic recovery, and resilience, strengthening global health governance, energy transition and climate change, food security, and sustainable development.

Focus of Italy is on recovery from the pandemic, strengthening global health governance, economic recovery and resilience, climate change and energy transition and sustainable development and food security: Harsh Shringla, Foreign Secretary pic.twitter.com/LBT04j4VMK

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2021

PM Modi in Rome for G20 Summit: What will be on agenda?

• Prime Minister Modi, in Rome, will join other G20 leaders during the 16th G20 Summit. There will be discussions on health recovery from the pandemic, global economy, climate change, and sustainable development.

• On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome, Prime Minister will meet the leaders of the other partner countries. He will review the progress made in India’s bilateral relations with them.

• During his visit to Italy, Prime Minister will visit the Vatican City to call on Pope Francis and will meet the Secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

• Prime Minister Modi on October 29 is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi.

First in-person G20 Summit since outbreak of pandemic

Prime Minister, while informing about his visit to Rome for G20 Summit, said that this will be the first in-person Summit of the G20 since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in 2020. It will allow us to take stock of the current global situation and exchange ideas on how the G20 can be an engine for strengthening the economic resilience and for building back inclusively and sustainably from the pandemic.

PM Modi to meet Pope Francis ahead of G20 meet

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to call on Pope Francis in the Vatican City on the second day of his arrival in Rome ahead of G20 Summit. However, it is yet to be clear whether it will be one to one or delegation-level meeting.

PM Narendra Modi will be calling on Pope Francis at the Vatican. It is still to be finalised whether it will be one to one or delegation-level meeting. Normally, there are some delegation members in such meetings: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla https://t.co/7T27v6aG87 pic.twitter.com/glJEIaHi9f

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2021

The meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Pope will also be significant, as PM Modi will only be the 5th Indian Prime Minister to meet the Pope. The last PM to meet the Pope was Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The other three PMs to meet Pope include Indira Gandhi, I.K. Gujral, and Jawahar Lal Nehru.