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British PM Boris Johnson with Indian PM Narendra Modi at G7 meeting in France.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited by the United Kingdom to attend the G7 summit to be held in the country's Cornwall region in June. The group that includes the world's seven leading democratic economies -- UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA -- and the European Union, will discuss global issues like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and open trade.

The summit will be held in Cornwall during June 11-13, and the UK will use its G7 presidency to “unite leading democracies to help the world build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future”, said a statement from the British high commission.

Besides India, Australia and South Korea have also been invited as guest countries to the first in-person G7 Summit in almost two years.

Announcing plans to hold the G7 Summit in June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to use Britain's presidency of the G7 to forge a consensus that the global economy must recover from the COVID-19 crisis in a pro-free trade and sustainable way.

 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had cancelled his India visit for this year's Republic Day event because of the detection of the mutant strain of the virus in Britain, is likely to visit the country "ahead of the G7", a press statement read.

Terming India as 'pharmacy of the world', the UK lauded the efforts regarding the production of the Covid-19 vaccine and said, "India already supplies more than 50% of the world's vaccines, and the UK and India have worked closely together throughout the pandemic."

G7 is a grouping of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA and the EU.

The Group of Seven is dubbed as an open forum where the world's most influential and open societies are brought together for close-knit discussions, with the pandemic likely to dominate this year's talks.