In the coming week, the UK will host the first in-person G7 (Group of Seven) meeting for foreign and development ministers in over two years. On Saturday, the India-European Union (EU) Summit will go ahead in a virtual format.

First in-person G7 foreign ministers meeting in 2 years

A G7 foreign and development ministers meeting is scheduled to happen in London in a COVID-secure way. This is as a crucial opportunity to "revitalize in-person diplomacy," the G7 UK website said.

This year, the UK foreign secretary has invited India, Australia, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, and the Chairman and Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to join as guests.

Topics at the meeting include ensuring equitable access to vaccines, building back better from the pandemic, supporting girls education in poor countries and agreeing on ambitious action to tackle climate change, according to the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

The last G7 Foreign Ministers meeting took place in April 2019 in Biarritz, France, and focused on fighting gender inequality and protecting biodiversity.

India-EU summit amid massive spike in COVID-19 cases across India

The India-EU Summit will be a virtual affair with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling off his visit to the Portuguese city of Porto because of the COVID-19 situation.

India had inconclusively negotiated a trade deal with the EU over 16 rounds of talks between 2007 and 2013. The talks on the same agreement will now be resumed, after a gap of eight years.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,164,969 on Saturday, with a single day spike of 401,993 cases as its health ministry said. The EU has activated its Civil Protection Mechanism to support India through the health crisis.

Read more: Countries offer COVID-19 support to India as hospitals swamped

Modi called off a visit to Brussels in March last year for the India-EU Summit following the COVID-19 outbreak. The summit was later held in a virtual format in July 2020.

Day by day:

Monday: G7 foreign ministers convene in London for the first face-to-face meeting in two years; the Polish president hosts the summit with Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian counterparts.

Tuesday: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds negotiations with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Moscow; Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin visits Singapore to meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Wednesday: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Armenia; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Ukraine.

Thursday: EU defense ministers meet in Belgium; German Chancellor Angela Merkel participates virtually in the 12th Petersberg Climate Dialogue.

Friday: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets virtually with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to discuss migration.

Saturday: India-EU summit in a virtual format.

Sunday: Victory Day parade takes place in Russia.