A selfie of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the G7 summit has gone viral on social media.
The picture, taken on Friday by Ms Meloni on the sidelines of the summit that is being held in Italy's Apulia, showed the two leaders smiling.
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Even last year, the selfie of the two leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai was widely shared on the internet.
"Good friends at COP28. #Melodi," Ms Meloni had captioned the photograph.
Good friends at COP28.#Melodipic.twitter.com/g0W6R0RJJo
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) December 1, 2023
PM Modi arrived in Italy early Friday at the invitation of Ms Meloni to participate in the G7 Outreach summit.
This is his first foreign trip after becoming prime minister for the third straight term.
PM Modi, Giorgia Meloni Hold Talks On Sidelines Of G7 Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the G7 Summit and discussed the bilateral relations.
According to the Prime Minister's Office, Ms Meloni congratulated PM Modi for his third consecutive term as Prime Minister.
Watch: Italy PM Giorgia Meloni's Namaste Greeting At G7 Goes Viral
PM Modi thanked Ms Meloni for the invitation to participate in the G7 Outreach summit and conveyed his appreciation for the successful conclusion of the event.
Had a very good meeting with PM @GiorgiaMeloni. Thanked her for inviting India to be a part of the G7 Summit and for the wonderful arrangements. We discussed ways to further cement India-Italy relations in areas like commerce, energy, defence, telecom and more. Our nations will… pic.twitter.com/PAe6sdNRO9
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 14, 2024
"The two leaders noted with satisfaction the regular higher political dialogue and reviewed progress of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership," the PMO said.
"While expressing happiness at growing trade and economic collaboration, they called for expanding commercial ties in clean energy, manufacturing, Space, S&T, telecom, AI, and critical minerals to build resilient supply chains. In this context, they welcomed the recent signing of an MoU on Industrial Property Rights (IPR) which provides a framework for cooperation on patents, designs, and trademarks," the official statement read further.
PM Modi and Ms Meloni also discussed bilateral defence and security cooperation and hoped to further enhance the defence industrial collaboration.