Buenos Aires, December 1: For the first-ever time since the elite group's founding, India will be hosting the G20 summit in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed while speaking at the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on Saturday. The event will coincide with the 75th Independence anniversary of India.

New Delhi was originally scheduled to host the annual event in 2021. The Indian officials, however, reached out to Italy -- which was slated to organise the summit in 2022 -- to swap the dates. Based on the Prime Minister's request, his Italian counterpart agreed to the proposal. G20: India Presents 9-Point Agenda on Fugitive Economic Offenders, Calls for Strong and Active Cooperation.

“It’s India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022 and we had requested Italy if we can get (to host the G20 summit) in 2022 instead of 2021. They accepted our request, others accepted it too. I’m grateful and I invite leadership from across the world to come to India in 2022,” Modi said at the 13th meeting of the group, reported news agency ANI.

G20 comprises of 19 leading economies of the world, and the European Union. The grouping was founded in 1999 to create consensus among world leaders on issues ranging from terrorism, poverty, malnutrition and reduction in trade barriers.

For the Indian side, the 13th edition of the summit, held at Buenos Aires, was highlighted by Modi's participation in two high-profile trilateral summits -- first with with US President Donald Trump and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, followed by another with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

The Russia-India-China (RIC) meeting took place after a gap of 12 years, according to Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson for the external affairs ministry, who said the interaction between the three leaders was “characterised by warmth and positivity”.

Speaking at the multilateral forum, PM Modi pitched for joint efforts to form a mechanism which denies entry and safe havens to economic offenders who seek to run away from their home countries to avoid accountability and prosecution.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 01, 2018 11:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).