UPDATE - Turkish president attends G-20 summit in India

ADDS TURKISH PRESIDENT'S BILATERAL MEETINGS

By Diyar Guldogan

NEW DELHI (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the 18th G-20 Leaders' Summit on Saturday which began in New Delhi.

India is hosting the two-day summit under the theme "One Earth, One Family, One Future,” where G-20 leaders, in the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, will exchange views in three sessions, hoping to make progress on trade, climate and other global problems.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Erdogan, as he arrived at the meeting venue for the first day of the summit.

Leaders attended the "One Earth" and "One Family" sessions on the first day.

Erdogan also held some bilateral talks with participating leaders and heads of government.

Early Saturday, Erdogan and his United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a closed-door meeting to discuss bilateral ties, and steps to be taken to develop existing areas of cooperation.

Although the UAE is not a member of the G-20, term president India also invited the leaders of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE to attend the summit.

Holding a sideline meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Erdogan wished success to Brazil, which will take over the G-20 term presidency in 2024, and noted that trade volume between the two countries, which was $5.6 billion last year, could be increased to $10 billion with joint efforts.

- Unity against Islamophobia

Erdogan met with the leaders of MIKTA, a partnership between Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Australia, and called for unity against the growing threat of Islamophobia.

"The increase and spread of hostility towards Islam along with international terrorism is worrying. These negative developments have reminded us again that we need more solidarity, more understanding of each other, and tolerance," Erdogan said at a meeting with MIKTA leaders.

He held talks with Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Since Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador could not attend the G-20 summit, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro Sanchez represented him at the meeting.

Erdogan also held a separate meeting with South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, with whom he discussed bilateral ties, and regional and international issues.

Later, the president received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. During a closed-door meeting, they discussed the bilateral relations and exchanged views on reviving the dialogue mechanism with the EU. Regional issues, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and international issues were also on the agenda.

Conveying his get-well wishes to Scholz on his recent accident, Erdogan stated that it is necessary to strengthen cooperation in areas such as energy supply, renewable energy, innovation, and technology transfers in a bid to increase the bilateral trade volume of $45 billion reached in 2022.

Erdogan also met with World Bank President Ajay Banga. During the meeting, Erdogan said that he welcomed the decision of the World Bank Group to increase the $17-billion three-year Türkiye Fund to $35 billion with an addition of $18 billion.

Erdogan said he believed cooperation with the World Bank would deepen in the future.

- G-20 leaders to attend 3rd session

The final day of the G-20 summit will start on Sunday with the leaders signing the Peace Wall.

They will lay wreaths at Indian icon Mahatma Gandhi's tomb in New Delhi before attending a tree-planting ceremony.

Later, the leaders will attend the third session "One Future".

Erdogan will also have sideline talks with leaders and is expected to hold a news conference after the summit.

Ankara attaches high importance to the G-20 as a forum bringing together advanced and emerging economies. Therefore, it actively supports further development of the G-20 agenda.

Türkiye hosted the leaders’ summit in southern Antalya province in November 2015 when it held the G-20 presidency in 2015.