India wanted media presence without questions at Modi-Trump G7 meeting, recalls Gor
New Delhi/IBNS: India had requested that media be allowed into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in France in June, but without a full-fledged press conference or questions from journalists, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has claimed.
According to Gor, the request was conveyed to Trump ahead of his June 17 meeting with Modi in France but the US president forgot it and sought questions from the media.
Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, Gor said he was with Trump before the meeting when the US President asked what India was expected to raise and whether the Indian side had any specific requests.
Gor said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had one request — to have the media present but avoid a full press conference.
“I told the President, I said, the Indians prefer no questions. He said, sure, no problem,” Gor recalled.
The meeting nevertheless took a different turn once the two leaders completed their opening remarks.
Gor said around 50 cameras were present in the room as Modi and Trump spoke for a few minutes. Trump then turned towards the journalists and asked, “Any questions?”
“And that opened everything up,” Gor said, adding that the interaction subsequently continued as a roughly 45-minute press conference in which a range of issues came up.
The Indian government and the MEA have not so far publicly responded to Gor's account.
The Modi-Trump interaction took place on the sidelines of the G7 Summit on June 17. Among the issues discussed was the safety of Indian seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz. Modi told Trump that the safety of Indian seafarers was of “utmost importance”. The two leaders also discussed the Strait of Hormuz and India-US trade ties.
Gor's account provides a behind-the-scenes description of how the media interaction unfolded, with the format reportedly shifting from limited media access to an extended question-and-answer session after Trump's spontaneous invitation to journalists.
The remarks have also renewed discussion around the format of Prime Minister Modi's interactions with the press, particularly his limited participation in open-ended press conferences.
However, Gor's account specifically concerns the arrangements for the June meeting and his recollection of the events.
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