 "Italian PM Giorgia Meloni welcomes guest with 'Namaste', video goes viral")
Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, welcomed her Group of Seven (G7) counterparts in a traditional Indian way. She could be seen welcoming German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with a 'Namaste' gesture.
‘Namaste’ is an Indian traditional word to greet people, and considered a symbol of respect and mutual recognition. It also reflects solidarity among world leaders. The video of Italy's prime minister went viral, evoking emotions from netizens. One of the social media users said, "Namaste karna sikh gai (learnt how to do Namaste)".
One X (formerly known as Twitter) user recalled that Indian gesture was the most preferred greeting during the COVID-19 pandemic, he tweeted, “COVID-free greeting”.
“Namaste goes Global. Italian PM Giorgia Meloni greets guests of the G7 summit with Namaste,” one of the users wrote while praising the Indian way of greeting.
G7 Summit in Italy
A Group of Seven, or G7, summit started on June 13 (Thursday) with the US announcing monetary aid of USD 50 billion to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral. This is a recent support of the US government to Ukraine in the war against Russia's invasion.
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The heads of nations were welcomed by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to a luxury resort in Southern Italy. Meloni compared the G7 with the ancient olive trees that symbolise the Puglia region, in her inaugural address.
PM Modi arrives in Italy to join G7 summit
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, also reached Italy's Apulia late Thursday night to participate in the G7 summit, where India is invited as an outreach country. PM Modi was received by India's Ambassador to Italy, Vani Rao, and other officials. This is the first foreign visit of PM Modi after assuming office for the third consecutive term.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, shared a post on X, where he said, "PM @narendramodi touches down at Brindisi airport in Apulia, Italy. Agenda includes participation in the Outreach session of the G7 Summit & substantive interactions with the global leaders on the sidelines. An action-packed day awaits!"