Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not travel to the UK next month to attend a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) nations in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said.

As the chair of G7, the UK has invited India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa to the summit. 

The summit of the G7 is scheduled to take place in Cornwall from June 11-13. 

Earlier, British Prime Minister Johnson had called off his scheduled visit to India last month in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Subsequently, Modi and Johnson held a virtual summit on May 4.

What is the significance of Group of Seven (G7)?

• The G7 comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. 

• It is the group of top seven developed economies. 

• The G7, originally G8, was set up in 1975 as an informal forum bringing together the leaders of the world’s leading industrial nations. 

• Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014 when Barack Obama was US president, after Moscow annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine. 

• The combined gross domestic product of G7 countries is about $40 trillion — a little less than half of the global economy.

• The annual G7 summits have over the years developed into a platform for determining the course of multilateral discourse and shaping political responses to global challenges. 

• It complements the role of the G20, which is widely regarded as the framework for ongoing global economic coordination.

• It is capable of setting the global agenda, because decisions taken by these major economic powers have a real impact. The political direction set by these leaders on a policy issue will have a “ripple” effect across many other international organisations and institutions.

• Thus, decisions taken at the G7 are not legally binding, but exert strong political influence.

• In past years, the G7 has taken action to strengthen the global economy and combat tax evasion, save 27 million lives from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and supported the education of millions of children in the poorest countries. In 2015 its members led the way in helping secure the historic Paris Climate Agreement to limit global emissions. 

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store