G20

"Covid-19 immunization is a global public good and the recognition of Covid-19 vaccines, which are deemed to be safe and efficacious by the WHO will be mutually accepted, subject, of course to, the national law and privacy law that countries may have," said Piyush Goyal, India's Sherpa at the G20 and Union Minister for Commerce and Industry.

The two leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic through expedited vaccination efforts and ensuring supply of critical medicines, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said. In this context, PM Modi appreciated Singapore's outreach to provide Covid assistance to India during the second wave. Prime Minister Lee congratulated the Indian Prime Minister for the rapid vaccination drive in India, the release said.

Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit, the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the state of the wide-ranging India-France Strategic Partnership, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said in New Delhi. Prime Minister Modi also welcomed the European Union's Indo-Pacific Strategy, released in September 2021, and thanked the French President for France's leadership role in the same.

Taking to Twitter after his first-ever meeting with the Pope, Modi said: "Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India." According to officials, the meeting which was initially scheduled for only 20 minutes, continued for an hour during which they discussed a wide range of topics, including the fight against climate change and removing poverty.

On Friday, the Prime Minister met and interacted with several Indologists and Sanskrit experts from Italian universities. "The Prime Minister noted their interest in Indian culture, literature and practice of yoga and Ayurveda and lauded the role played by them in strengthening the ties between India and Italy," a release from the Ministry of External Affairs said at New Delhi.

"Hello from Rome! I'm here as Co-Chair of @ipacglobal, and today we're talking about #China and its disrespect of human rights and the rule of law. As the #G20summit kicks off, we're highlighting China's behaviour to the international community," Barry Ward said in a tweet. "I'm in Rome today for the first in-person conference of @ipacglobal. As world leaders come together for the G20, Garnett Genius, another participant of the meet, tweeted.

The summit was hosted by Italy on Tuesday. Some members of the summit cited that provision of aids didn't indicate recognition of the "Taliban" government. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, said that her country is not ready to recognise the "Taliban". According to her, the Taliban have not met the international measures and expectations of the world, the report said.

The latest edition of the Institute's 1.5-Degree Lifestyles report analyses lifestyle carbon footprints from nine G20 countries around the world -- Canada, the UK, Japan, China, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, India and Indonesia as well as Finland -- and identifies where changes can be made to meet the Paris Agreement 1.5 degrees C climate target.

After a two-day summit in central Florence, Italy, the Ministers approved a final statement made of 21 points, mostly focused on "identifying and overcoming the major hurdles to meeting the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals provided by the 2030 Agenda)", reports Xinhua news agency

Italy's last airlift flight, carried out by a military C-130 plane, is expected to land in Rome on Saturday, bringing back "all the Italians who asked to be repatriated", Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday. He confirmed that some 4,900 Afghan nationals who wanted to leave following the Taliban takeover of the war-ton nation have been evacuated by Italian forces during the operation, reports Xinhua news agency.