India will be invited to the G7 summit at Biarritz, France this year, said French ambassador Alexander Ziegler to journalists.

which is the chair of the G-7 grouping has invited India to the summit scheduled for August 24-26, where discussions will be focused on combating inequality. The group consists of US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy .

Of course, this is not the first time India will be present at this exclusive club — in 2005, Tony Blair had invited then PM Manmohan Singh to the Gleneagles G8 summit. Then, as now, India is being recognized for the strength of its growing economy and global footprint.

The G7 is actually an informal grouping whose summits typically focus on large issues of global economy and governance. Russia was invited to be a member for a while in 1998, but was removed after it annexed Crimea in 2014, along with worsening relations between Moscow and Washington. The EU also participates as a “non-enumerated” member.

The G7 is a group of mature developed economies with very little space given to emerging economies like India and China. Its largely the reason why the G-20 is seen as the more representative body. To that extent, the invitation to India is a significant one. Although China is not in the room, it has a huge presence in all G7 discussions — this year, Italy became the first G7 country to formally join China’s BRI enterprise.

Source : PTI