Erdogan, Modi meet in Japan, discuss trade, defense

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on the sidelines of G20 summit in Japan on Saturday.

The two leaders discussed bilateral trade, defense cooperation and countering terror.

It was the first time that Turkish president met Modi after latter’s second term win as prime minister of India early in May this year.

Soon after the meeting, Modi tweeted: “India considers Turkey a valued friend, with whom our relations are time tested. We discussed various avenues of India-Turkey cooperation and how we can improve ties in commerce and connectivity.”

Turkish presidency said in a separate statement that Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak and Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar accompanied Erdogan during the meeting.

The meeting was held at the International Exhibition Center (INTEX), the venue of the G20 summit in Japan’s western city of Osaka.

After the meeting concluded, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a Twitter statement that the focus of the bilateral discussions remained on trade and investment, defense, counter-terrorism, IT and civil aviation.

Leaders of top 20 economies -- G20 -- met in Osaka for two-day summit for 14th time since the inception of this multi-national grouping in 1999 to discuss trade, environment, health and climate among other issues.

The summit ended on Saturday evening in Japan.

Besides Modi, Erdogan held bilateral meetings with presidents of the U.S. and Russia and German Chancellor among others.