Turkish president attends G-20 summit

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday attended the 17th G-20 summit held on Indonesia's Bali island.

Term president Indonesia is hosting the two-day summit under the theme Recover Together-Recover Stronger, where the G-20 leaders will exchange views in three sessions, namely Food and Energy Security, Health and Digital Transformation.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo welcomed the world leaders, including Erdogan, as they arrived at the meeting venue for the first day of the summit.

Following the welcoming ceremony, the leaders attended the Food and Energy Security session of the summit.

Ahead of the session, Erdogan had brief chats with various participating leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, China’s Xi Jinping and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

He also had brief conversations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the summit.

Erdogan also met with the leaders of MIKTA nations, namely Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Australia.

After lunch, the G-20 leaders attended the session on health.

Meetings on sidelines of G-20 summit

Later in the day, Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with US President Joe Biden. The leaders discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly trade and security issues, and regional developments.

Biden thanked Erdogan for his efforts to help remove obstacles in the Istanbul grain deal and to resume exports from Ukrainian ports. He also said his government will continue to support the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye.

Holding a separate closed-door meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Erdogan urged the EU to play its part in the extension of the Black Sea grain deal.

Erdogan also told Macron that Greece should be encouraged to have "honest, sincere and meaningful dialogue.”

Developing cooperation between Ankara and Paris in the defense and energy sectors as well as in trade is in the common interest, he added.

Both Biden and Macron offered their condolences to Erdogan over Sunday's deadly terror attack in Istanbul.

At least six people were killed and 81 injured in Sunday's bomb blast, which the Turkish government confirmed was carried out by the YPG/PKK terror group.

Erdogan also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the first time after she became Italy's first woman prime minister as her right-wing coalition emerged victorious in general elections on Sept. 25.

No further information was released yet about the meeting.

On Monday, Erdogan and Widodo held a closed-door meeting to discuss bilateral relations, and five agreements were signed between Türkiye and Indonesia in the fields of the defense industry, technology, forestry, the environment, and development.