'Melodi Moment': PM Modi Meets Italian Counterpart Giorgia Meloni In Canada

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his visit to Canada for the 51st G7 Summit in Kananaskis. As always, their meeting has drawn the attention of the netizens.

Modi Meets Meloni

After the informal meeting, Meloni, in a post on X, wrote: "Italy and India, linked by a great friendship." A video showing PM Modi greeting the Italian Prime Minister with a handshake and engaging in a brief conversation has gone viral.

Responding to her message, the Indian Prime Minister said that the bilateral relationship between the two countries will continue to strengthen, benefiting both nations.

In response, PM Modi wrote, "India's friendship with Italy will continue to get stronger, greatly benefitting our people!" PM Modi wrote, as she quoted one of Meloni's posts, which read, "Italy and India, linked by a great friendship".

Their friendship had been previously described by the Italian Prime Minister as 'Melodi', an informal portmanteau of Meloni and Modi. The two leaders met on several occasions and taken selfies during the COP28 Summit in Dubai, where Meloni captioned the photo "Good friends at COP28, #Melodi".

PM Modi Meets Other Leaders

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis.

This was the first in-person interaction between the two leaders since Prime Minister Carney assumed office following Canada's recent general elections.

"The leaders reaffirmed the importance of India-Canada ties, based on shared democratic values, respect for the rule of law. and commitment to upholding the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. They underlined the need to pursue a constructive and balanced partnership grounded in mutual respect for concerns and sensitivities, strong people-to-people ties, and growing economic complementarities. In this regard, both sides agreed to take calibrated and constructive steps to restore stability in the relationship, beginning with the early return of High Commissioners to each other's capitals," a statement from PM's Office read.

The statement claims that the leaders discussed opportunities for future collaboration in areas such as clean energy, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, LNG, food security, critical minerals, higher education, mobility, and supply chain resilience. The two leaders reaffirmed their shared interest in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific while discussing the importance of restarting the stalled negotiations on the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), with a view to paving the way for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The Prime Minister also had an interaction with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.