Italy PM Giorgia Meloni greets delegates at G7 Summit with ‘namaste’, video goes viral

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday welcomed the world leaders with a ‘namaste’ – an Indian form of greeting with folded hands – at the G7 Summit. Several videos of Meloni’s gesture are going viral on social media, with netizens lauding Meloni.

The videos showed Meloni greeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with the traditional Indian greeting.

Italy is hosting the 50th G7 Summit this year in Borgo Egnazia (Fasano) in the city of Apulia in southern Italy from June 13 to 15. The Summit is being dominated by the discussions of the raging Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war.

Notably, the G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.

On the first day of the Summit, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were present along with Giorgia Meloni. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled for a session on the Russian invasion of his country.

Meanwhile, PM Modi arrived in Italy late Thursday night (local time)—his first visit to a foreign country since recently assuming office as the PM for the third consecutive term following the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Modi will participate in the G7 outreach session on Friday. Along with him, leaders of Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Turkey will also attend the session. He will also hold bilateral talks on various issues with world leaders, including Meloni.

Modi is also expected to hold bilateral interactions with US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. There is speculation that he will also interact with Zelensky, but there are no confirmations yet.