SEE ALSO: G20 Summit 2023 in Delhi Live Updates
The Prime Minister’s Office shared photos of the two leaders holding talks on “a wide range of issues (that) will further deepen bond between India and the US”.
After the leaders’ bilateral meeting, the Prime Minister hosted a dinner for Biden.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi held bilateral talks with his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.
PM Modi is scheduled to hold at least 12 more bilateral meetings over the next two days on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.
On Saturday, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of the UK, Japan, Germany and Italy besides attending the G20 events. On Sunday, he will have a working lunch meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, sources said.
The PM earlier said that these meetings would give an opportunity to review India’s bilateral ties with these nations and further strengthen developmental cooperation.
Here are the top developments through the day:
Biden, PM Modi hold bilateral talks
US President Joe Biden held a closed-door meeting with PM Modi on Friday shortly after arriving in New Delhi to participate in the G20 summit.
Biden and PM Modi last met face-to-face in June when Modi was the guest of a White House state visit. The two leaders discussed progress on a number of agreements reached in June, including a deal to allow General Electric to produce jet engines in India to power Indian military aircraft.
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen also attended the meeting. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters ahead of the meeting that the talks would show “the breadth of the relationship between our countries”.
A number of topics, including a deal for jet engines, procurement of predator drones, and collaboration on critical technologies like 5G and 6G networks, were likely discussed during the talks.
After the G20, Biden is to visit Vietnam before returning to the United States later on Monday.
Need to reform UNSC to reflect realities of today’s world: Guterres
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday described India as “the country of the world” and a “very important” partner in the multilateral system but said it is for the members and not him to decide on its UN Security Council membership.
Addressing a press conference here ahead of the G20 Summit, he made a strong pitch for immediate reforms to UNSC and other multilateral institutions, as he asserted that the future of the world is multipolar but “our multilateral institutions reflect a bygone age”.
Asked whether it was time for India to become a member of the UNSC, he said, “It is not for me to decide who would be in UNSC, it is for the members.”
“But it is obvious that India is today the country of the world with the largest population and it is a very important partner in the multilateral system,” he said.
“All I can say that I believe that we need reform in multilateral system to reflect today’s world,” Guterres added.
He said the phrase of ‘One Earth, One Family and One Future’ adopted by India as G20 theme, inspired by the Mahaupanishad, finds profound resonance in today’s world. “If we are indeed one global family, today we resemble rather a dysfunctional one,” he added.
New path to human-centric development: PM Modi
A day before the G20 Summit begins, PM Modi on Friday expressed confidence that it will chart a new path in the human-centric and inclusive development.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, he said on X that it is important to emulate his mission of serving the underprivileged, the very last person in the queue, as he underlined India’s great emphasis on a human-centric way of furthering progress.
“We seek to accelerate progress of SDGs, Green Development Pact for a Sustainable Future and strengthen Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century. We attach immense priority to futuristic sectors such as technological transformation and digital public infrastructure. We will also collectively work to further gender equality, women empowerment and ensure world peace,” he said.
Rooted in our cultural ethos, India’s G20 presidency theme, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One Earth, One Family, One Future’, deeply resonates with our world view that the whole world is one family, he said.
World leaders start arriving for G20 summit
Several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, British PM Rishi Sunak, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and UN Secretary General Antonia Guterres, arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the G20 summit, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he looks forward to productive discussions with them over the next two days.
The leaders were welcomed by traditional dance performances by various troupes and a smiling IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva danced to the beat of the music at the airport.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Hasina were received at the airport by Union Ministers Shobha Karandlaje and Darshana Jardosh respectively.
Sunak was received by Union Minister Ashwini Choubey while Argentine President Alberto Fernández was welcomed by Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste.
Comoros President Azali Assoumani also arrived here to a rousing welcome. He is also the chairperson of the African Union.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also arrived for the summit. On his arrival, Deputy Prime Minister of Oman Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said was received by Ashwini Choubey and he witnessed dance performance by cultural troupes.
(With inputs from agencies)
