Ottawa: They exchanged a warm hug and shared a hearty laugh before settling down for a bilateral discussion on Tuesday evening (local time) on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada’s Kananaskis.
A video of warm hug and banter between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron has now gone viral. “Nowadays, you are also active on Twitter,” PM Modi seems to have said, to which President Macron chuckles.
Netizens saw it as a swipe at US president Donald Trump over his recent spar with Macron after an hasty exit from the G7 summit. “Macron ke saath-saath Trump ke bhi maze le liye (Along with Macron, also took a dig at Trump),” one of the X users said.
“This is me when I meet my Twitter friends,” another X user wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump called Macron “publicity seeking” after the French President said that the US President returned to Washington DC for “ceasefire” between Israel and Iran.
PM Modi later shared details of his meeting with the French counterpart. “It’s always a delight to interact with my friend, President Emmanuel Macron and exchange perspectives on a wide range of issues. India and France will keep working closely for the betterment of our planet,” he wrote on X.
This marked the end of the second leg of his five-day three-nation visit which began with Cyprus. The final leg of Modi’s visit will be to Croatia, marking the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country.