MEA: PM Modi to virtually take part in G20 summit on Afghanistan tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually participate in the Group of 20 (G20) Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on Afghanistan on October 12, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Monday. The MEA said Modi would be taking part in the summit at the invitation of the Italian presidency.

In a statement, the MEA said the agenda of the meeting would include a discussion on response to humanitarian needs and access to basic services and livelihood in the war-torn nation that was taken over by the Taliban in August this year.

At the invitation of the Italian Presidency of the G20, PM @narendramodi will participate in the G20 Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on Afghanistan on 12 October 2021, in virtual format.

The agenda would also include talks on security and the fight against terrorism, and mobility, migration and human rights, the MEA said.

The ministry said the PM had earlier participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation- Collective Security Treaty Organization (SCO – CSTO) outreach Summit on Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had participated in the meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The announcement on the extraordinary meeting of leaders of the 20 major economies of world was initially made by Italy's prime minister Mario Draghi on September 29.

The meeting would be held a few weeks ahead of the summit of the G20 leaders scheduled in Rome for October 30 and 31.

The MEA further said the G20 comprises 20 of the world's major economies and "is an important platform to help build international consensus and facilitate a coordinated approach between multilateral organisations, including the UN and its agencies, and global and regional actors to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan".

According to a report by global news agency Reuters, Draghi had recently spoken to other world leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and China Xi Jinping, about the need to organise a special meeting to lay down strategies to confront the crisis that was unfolding in the war-ravaged nation.

Concerns over human rights, especially that of women and minorities, under the Islamic militant group have been a major concern globally.

European nations have also expressed their apprehensions of the crisis leading to the risk of a massive inflow of migrants.

The international community must also lay down a strategy to prevent Afghanistan becoming a haven for militants, he said.