Prime Minister Narendra Modi will showcase India’s growing ties with middle powers at the Group of Seven summit in France before holding his first face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump after a year of frostiness.
Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of Canada, the UK and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, according to Indian officials familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. While India and the UAE are not part of the G7, New Delhi has frequently been invited to the summit.
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The talks are expected to be brief and unlikely to produce any major announcements, analysts said. Still, they will highlight India’s broadening diplomatic and trade relationships ahead of the Trump meeting.
The significance lies more in the optics and the signal they send about India’s diplomatic reach than in any concrete outcomes, said Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Eurasia Group’s practice head for South Asia.
The meetings reflect New Delhi’s broader strategy of diversifying its international partnerships while strengthening its economic and military capabilities at home. External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said India’s approach is to “maximize friendships and minimize problems.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump and Modi, who are due to meet on Wednesday for their first in-person talks in more than a year, will aim to repair strained ties. While the two leaders enjoyed a close rapport during Trump’s first term, relations have been tested by US tariff measures and Trump’s repeated assertions that he helped end India-Pakistan hostilities last year, claims New Delhi has rejected.
The strains have pushed New Delhi to deepen ties with longstanding partners and repair relations with other major powers, including China and Canada. In a sign of that shift, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used his first official visit to India earlier this year to reset ties, with the two countries agreeing to expand cooperation in trade and nuclear energy. On Tuesday, the two leaders are expected to discuss progress on the proposed free trade agreement, according to the people familiar.
Modi’s meeting with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE comes just a month after the Indian leader made a brief visit to Abu Dhabi, where the two sides agreed on a framework for a strategic defense partnership.
“The frequency of the interaction shows comfort and deep economic and security ties between the two countries,” Chaudhuri said. “The situation in the Gulf post the ceasefire is likely to be top of the agenda,” on Tuesday.
The Indian leader will also meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. India signed a free trade agreement with the UK last year, a key achievement in Modi’s efforts to diversify export markets and reduce the South Asian economy’s reliance on US.
New Delhi is also close to finalizing an interim trade pact with Washington, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer scheduled to visit the country later this month.
