Is acceptance by India’s Modi to attend G7 summit in Canada a ‘Pyrrhic victory’?

The belated invitation by Canada has sparked debate on whether ties between New Delhi and Ottawa are on the mend

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the invitation from his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney to attend the G7 summit in Alberta. Photo: dpa

Published: 4:32pm, 11 Jun 2025Updated: 7:17pm, 11 Jun 2025

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi last week to attend the G7 summit starting on Sunday has sparked debate on whether the last-minute request came amid pressure from other countries in the group of rich nations or is a sign of a thaw in ties with India.

Carney extended the invitation to Modi in a phone call between the two leaders on Friday.

Modi has accepted the invitation, saying his meeting with Carney will lead to “renewed vigour” in bilateral ties.

“As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the summit,” Modi said in a social media post on Friday.

Indian media reports had earlier said Modi was likely to miss the G7 meeting as Ottawa’s failure to send an invitation to the leader with less than a fortnight to the event had left little time for New Delhi to arrange his schedule.

The June 15–17 meeting of leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – will be held in Kananaskis, Alberta. Although India is not a G7 member, it has been regularly invited to take part in the group’s meetings in recent years.

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