All smiles and pleasantries; PM Modi chairs all party meeting on India's G20 presidency

New Delhi: In the all party meeting held to discuss India's G20 presidency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the opposition parties and urged them to make the opportunity a success.

He said that the presidency is a unique opportunity to showcase the country's strengths to the entire world. Further, he emphasised the importance of teamwork and sought cooperation of all leaders in the organisation of various G-20 events.

Leaders of different parties, including BJP's J P Nadda, Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC's Mamata Banerjee, BJD's Naveen Patnaik, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, YSR Congress's Jagan Mohan Reddy, CPM's Sitaram Yechury, TDP's N Chandrababu Naidu and DMK's M K Stalin, addressed the meeting and the PM was seen exchanging pleasantries with the leaders.

Asserting that the country's presidency of the G-20, a grouping of world's 20 major economies, belongs to the entire nation, PM Modi said there is a global curiosity and attraction towards India today that further increases the occasion's potential.

He pointed out that the presidency would help showcase parts of India beyond the conventional big metros, bringing out the uniqueness of various regions of the country.

Noting that a large number of visitors would be coming to India during the year-long events, PM highlighted the potential for promoting tourism and boosting the local economies of the venues where G-20 meetings would be organised.

Brief interventions were made by Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while a detailed presentation encapsulating aspects of India's G-20 priorities was also made, the statement said.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Bhupender Yadav also attended the meeting.

-PTI Inputs