New Delhi: As part of his three-day trip to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima.
PM Modi said he was eager to attend the G7 Summit and share his views on the global challenges and the need for joint action.
“I will also have bilateral meetings with some of the leaders who will be at the Hiroshima G7 Summit,” he said in a statement, adding that he was looking forward to meeting Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Hiroshima was the first city to experience a nuclear attack on August 6, 1945, which claimed the lives of nearly 140,000 people and destroyed countless properties.
Three days later, another bomb, called “Fat Man”, was dropped on Nagasaki, killing more than 75,000 people. These were the only instances of using atomic bombs in war.
PM Modi and other world leaders who will join the Summit will visit a peace memorial in Hiroshima and honour the victims. The Gandhi statue will convey a message of peace as the leader advocated for non-violence as the only way to save the world.
After Japan, PM Modi will go to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea where he will co-host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) with Prime Minister James Marape on May 22.
In the last leg of his journey, the Prime Minister will visit Australia, where he will have discussions with his counterpart Anthony Albanese and speak at a diaspora event on May 23.