Italian PM Giorgia Meloni welcomes delegates at G7 Summit with 'namaste', internet reacts (WATCH)
At the inaugural day of the G7 Summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was seen welcoming European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with folded hands.
FollowItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting this year’s Group of Seven (G7) meeting, was seen doing a namaste gesture while welcoming prominent leaders for the summit.
Meloni is seen welcoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with a namaste in a number of videos that have gone popular on the social networking site X. The videos have gained widespread attention, with ‘namaste’ trending on the microblogging site.
A user commented, “Sanskaari Kanya ❤️ using namaste for swaagat.” “That’s such a nice gesture. It shows our culture being celebrated,” another user shared. Meanwhile, a user offered a scientific explanation for the namaste gesture.
On Day 1 of the summit, US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were present at the summit along with Giorgia Meloni.
Leaders from the G7 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are meeting for a three-day summit from June 13 to 15 to discuss global affairs in the southern Italian region of Puglia (Apulia).
Prime Minister Modi has also departed for the summit in Italy on Thursday. The G7 Summit, being held at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in nearby Fasano, marks PM Modi’s first foreign visit since winning a third term in the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha election.
This year's summit mainly focusses on developing mechanisms to defend the rules-based international system which has come under challenge by the Russian aggression on Ukraine and Israel's war against Hamas.
