Meet with Xi not on PM’s itinerary: Government

“The Prime Minister is visiting Hamburg from July 6-8 for G-20 Summit. His pre-planned bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit are with Argentina, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, ROK (Republic of Korea), the UK and Vietnam,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said when asked about Prime Minister Modi’s schedule in Hamburg. “In addition, he will also participate in the BRICS Leaders’ meeting. 

There is no change in the Prime Minister’s schedule,” he said, suggesting that there was no scheduled bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi. Comments by Baglay, who is accompanying Modi on his overseas trip, came after Chinese Foreign Ministry officials also ruled out the possibility of a Xi-Modi meet. Earlier in the day, a Chinese official had said that the “atmosphere” is “not right” for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

With an eye on China and in less than a week from now, MiG-29K fighter jets flying off the deck of India’s only operational aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya will be ‘taking on’ state of the art US Navy F/A-18 E/F ‘Super Hornet’ fighters over the Bay of Bengal in what will be the largest, most complex Naval war games India has ever participated in. A fleet tanker that replenishes ships out at sea will also be a part of the operations.