India-EU Summit to be held in virtual format on May 8

Following a massive spike in Covid-19 cases across India over the past few days, the prime minister decided to call off the visit.

The India-European Union (EU) Summit next month will be a virtual affair with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling off his visit to the Portuguese city of Porto because of the Covid-19 situation.

PM Modi had been expected to travel to Porto for the meeting with leaders of the 27 EU member states on May 8. (PTI)

“The India-EU leaders meeting in the EU+27 format, the first time that such a meeting is being held, reflects the shared ambition of both sides to further deepen the strategic partnership,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

He said in view of the Covid-19 situation, a decision was made to hold the India-EU leaders meeting on May 8 in a virtual format following consultations with the EU and Portuguese leadership.

Modi had been expected to travel to Porto for the meeting with leaders of the 27 EU member states on May 8. The summit was expected to give a push to efforts to revive negotiations on trade and investment agreements. The Indian and Portuguese prime ministers were also set to hold a bilateral summit.

Following a massive spike in Covid-19 cases across India over the past few days, the prime minister decided to call off the visit, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.

Modi had called off a visit to Brussels in March last year for the India-EU Summit following the Covid-19 outbreak. The summit was later held in a virtual format in July 2020.

The prime minister had also been expected to travel to France for a bilateral visit after the planned summit in Porto.

The Covid-19 situation in India resulted in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling off a planned visit to India on April 25. Johnson and Modi are now set to hold a virtual meeting on April 26 to chart out the future course of bilateral ties following Britain’s exit from the EU.

The Covid-19 situation has raised uncertainty about several meetings and visits planned for the coming weeks. It was not immediately clear if a 2+2 meeting of the Indian and Japanese foreign and defence ministers and a visit to India by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would go ahead as planned in late April and early May.

On Monday, India recorded nearly 274,000 new Covid-19 infections and the total number of confirmed cases was more than 15 million.