(Rome) Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the guests of the G7, from Thursday to Saturday in Puglia (Italy), where the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East will be discussed.
Amid growing global tensions, G7 leaders including President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumoi Kishida will meet at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in southern Italy.
Without participating in the official discussions, other leaders not belonging to the group were invited to the event by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Among the list of guests are, in addition to Pope Francis and the recently re-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several African leaders, including the Algerian Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Tunisian Kais Saied, the Kenyan William Ruto and the Mauritanian Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.
PHOTO YARA NARDI, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Pope Francis
Africa, climate change and development will be the topics of the G7 opening session on Thursday.
A session devoted to the situation in the Middle East will follow, then discussions on Ukraine – considered the central subject of the summit – before an official dinner.
The guest list published Tuesday also includes Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Argentinian Javier Milei and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G20.
Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan is also expected to attend, as is King Abdullah II of Jordan, according to the official list.
Italian diplomatic sources had mentioned the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but his name does not appear on the list.
Other representatives from the G7 countries will be British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Friday’s agenda includes discussions on immigration, the Indo-Pacific region and economic security, as well as artificial intelligence. The Pope will attend the latter.
The summit is scheduled to conclude on Friday at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. Eastern), before a final press conference by Giorgia Meloni on Saturday afternoon.