AKIPRESS.COM - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated virtually in the outreach sessions of the Group of Seven (G7) on June 12, where he said that the summit should send out a message of "One Earth One Health" for the whole world. He also expressed appreciation for the support extended by the G7 and other friendly countries during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, The Quint reported.

PM Modi also committed India's support for collective endeavors to improve global health governance. He called for global unity, leadership, and solidarity to prevent future pandemics, emphasizing on the special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies in this regard.

Further, PM Modi, explained" India’s successful use of open source digital tools for contact tracing and vaccine management, and conveyed India's willingness to share its experience and expertise with other developing countries.”

PM Modi also sought the G7 nations' support for the proposal moved at the WTO by India and South Africa, for a TRIPS (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver on COVID related technologies

The UK, as the G7 Chair, invited Australia, India, South Africa, and South Korea to the summit as guests.

In view of the devastating COVID-19 situation in the country, PM Modi had cancelled his in-person visit to the UK for the summit.

The summit officially commenced on June 11 June, has finally quelled the Zoom diplomacy to make it the first face-to-face meeting of global leaders, since the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2020, to discuss wide ranging issues. The leaders of the world's seven largest economies - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the USA, congregated on Cornwall, UK - for the summit.

The focus for G7 summit 2021 was "Build Back Better" and the the UK, as the host nation has identified four priority areas to be discussed – global recovery from COVID-19 and building resilience against pandemics in the future; championing free and fair trade; taking measures for climate change and preserving earth’s biodiversity; championing shared values and open societies – news agencies reported.

Earlier this week, Britain had announced that G7 leaders will agree to provide at least one billion COVID vaccine doses to the world by expanding their global manufacturing of jabs through sharing and financing schemes.

The UK added that it would start by donating five million doses by the end of September and at least 100 million surplus doses within the next year, news agency AFP reported.