Turkish president meets with G20 leaders in Italy

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz and Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday met with world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Rome summit.

Erdogan met Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the La Nuvola Convention Center, which host the 2021 summit in Italy, the first in-person summit since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 35-minute closed-door meeting was also attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, as well as Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, and Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman Omer Celik.

The Turkish president also received Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The two officials held a 30-minute closed-door meeting.

Separately, Erdogan met with EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for a 30-minute talk. The closed-door meeting was also attended by Cavusoglu.

The 2021 G20 summit, which has convened the leaders of the world's 20 leading economies and representatives of international organizations, began in Rome on Saturday.

The two-day summit, hosted by the G20 term president Italy, was inaugurated by Italian Premier Draghi.

The group of the 20 largest and most advanced economies is to address the coronavirus pandemic, ways to foster a robust economic recovery and boost global cooperation on climate action.

Meetings are also expected to discuss migrant crises and other geopolitical issues.

*Writing by Merve Aydogan in Ankara