On the second day of his official visit to Rome, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to see Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. Modi, who arrived in Italy on Friday, will meet with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the two-day G20 summit in Rome, which he is attending at the invitation of his Italian counterpart, Mario Draghi.

The Vatican is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and is a city-state bordered by Rome. 

This year’s G20 meeting, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the seventh time, will be held in Rome. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, last year’s conference, hosted by Saudi Arabia, was held virtually.

The theme of this G20 meeting, which is being hosted by Italy, is ‘People, Planet, and Prosperity’. 

On the sidelines of the G20 conference, Prime Minister Modi will meet with a number of world leaders later in the day. Meetings with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hosein Loong are among those.

“On Sunday, PM Modi is expected to have a meeting with Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the G20 summit,” reported the ANI news agency. Modi will also be participating in discussions on “Climate Change and Environment and Sustainable Development”, the agency added.

According to the news agency, which quoted officials familiar with the matter, there will also be a global meeting on supply chain resilience. 

On Friday, Prime Minister Modi and his Italian counterpart, Mario Draghi, held long delegation-level talks on deepening India-Italy cooperation.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the two leaders reviewed the five-year action plan of “bilateral partnership and reiterated the commitment to further expanding trade and investment linkages.”