Xi Jinping yet to confirm, but India prepares to host him, 17 other G20 leaders for summit

Beijing has not yet confirmed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to New Delhi for the G20 summit. Although, India expects not only the Chinese President, but 17 other leaders of the intergovernmental forum to attend the conclave to be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Notwithstanding speculation about US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak having separate bilateral meetings with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi on September 9 and 10.

The G20 comprises 19 nations and the European Union (EU). New Delhi had sent out invitations to the leaders of all the 18 nations to attend the annual conclave to be held in India. Besides, the two EU leaders – European Council’s President Charles Michel and European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen – had also been sent invitations.

During a phone call with PM Modi on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed his inability to attend the summit. He also conveyed to Modi that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would lead the delegation of Russia at the conclave.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also conveyed that he would not be attending the summit.

Biden, Sunak, Australian PM Albanese, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol are among the G20 leaders, who confirmed their in-person participation in the summit, a source told DH on Wednesday.

The G20 secretariat is in touch with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in New Delhi and necessary arrangement has already been put in place for Xi's visit. Beijing, however, has not yet sent any confirmation about his visit to New Delhi, added the source aware of preparation for the summit.

Modi and Xi recently had a conversation on the sideline of the BRICS summit at Johannesburg in South Africa.

If Xi travels to New Delhi for the G20 summit, it would be his first after the relations between India and China nosedived over the more than three-year-long military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Xi last visited Mamallapuram near Chennai in October 2019 for the second informal summit with PM Modi.

Apart from the G20 nations, New Delhi also invited leaders of nine other friendly nations - Bangladesh, Mauritius, Singapore, Oman, Netherlands, Egypt, Spain, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates - to attend the summit. All of them are expected to visit New Delhi at the newly inaugurated Bharat Mandapam.

In addition to the top brass of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organisation, World Trade Organisation, International Labour Organisation, Financial Stability Board, and Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development as well as the chairs of African Union, AUDA-NEPAD and ASEAN, India has also invited the ISA, CDRI, and ADB to send representatives.