G7 Summit: A look at what the agenda may include

General view of Carbis Bay ahead of the G7 summit, Cornwall, Britain, June 8, 2021. (REUTERS/Tom Nicholson)

The G7 summit will see leaders of the world's richest democracies meet from June 11-13 at Carbis Bay Hotel, a seaside resort in Cornwall, UK.

The Group of Seven (G7) comprises of the UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy. The event is typically hosted by the G7 President country, a position the countries hold in turns.

The UK will host the 47th G7 summit since it currently holds the Presidency of the group.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to join the conference virtually, and not in-person due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country.

India has been invited as one the guest countries, along with South Korea, Australia and South Africa will also attend the event.

Some media reports around two months ago had suggested that the Quad (US, Australia, Japan and India), could meet in-person on the sidelines of the G7 summit, following a virtual meeting in March.

For India, the summit comes against the backdrop of a strained relationship with China.

This could also be an opportunity for India to expand ties with Western countries, said C Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.

In a column published in the The Indian Express, Mohan said "For India, too, the Cornwall summit comes amidst intensifying strategic cooperation with the West. This includes strong bilateral strategic cooperation with the US, France, UK as well as the Quad and the trilateral partnerships with France and Australia as well as Japan and Australia. India has also stepped up its engagement with the European Union."

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What is on the agenda? 

The COVID-19 pandemic, particularly vaccination and global recovery, will dominate the discussion. The agenda also includes climate change and trade, the BBC reported.

The summit also comes after the G7 agreed on a deal to impose a global tax on multinational corporations, a move that could hurt tech giants such as Google and Amazon.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to push for vaccine passports, a move that India has opposed.

"We need to have agreements on issues such as vaccine passports, Covid status certification and the rest," Johnson said in an interview broadcast by Canadian public channel CBC.

India's health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan recently said vaccine passports would be "hugely discriminatory and disadvantageous" to developing countries.