Boris Johnson invites PM Modi to G7 in June, says will visit India before the summit

Almost a fortnight after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed “regret” that he would not be able to visit India as Chief Guest for the Republic Day 2021 celebrations in view of the pandemic, he has invited the Indian Prime Minister to the UK for the G7 summit in June this year.
Johnson, who had extended an invitation to Modi during a phone call last year, also reiterated his plan to visit India ahead of the G7 summit.
The proposed summit will be the first in-person G-7 summit in almost two years, as it will be held in the English region of Cornwall from June 11 to 13. Besides India, Australia and South Korea have also been invited as guest countries as a testament to UK’s commitment to ensuring multilateral institutions better reflect today’s world, according to a statement issued by the British government.
Modi had attended the G-7 summit in Biarritz in France in August 2019 and was also invited for the 2020 summit hosted by the US — which could not take place due to the pandemic.
This is expected to be Modi’s second G-7 summit; his predecessor Manmohan Singh had attended the G-8 summit (it became G-7 from G-8 with the expulsion of Russia in 2014) five times between 2005 and 2009 through his first term in UPA 1.
Making the invitation official, Johnson said: “As the most prominent grouping of democratic countries, the G7 has long been the catalyst for decisive international action to tackle the greatest challenges we face.