(Image source from: News18.com)
The United States President Donald Trump will have a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires on November 30 and December 1, the White House said on Tuesday.
The trilateral, which would be an expansion of the bilateral between Trump and Abe, is part of the series of meetings Trump would have later this week on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Argentina, which is being attended by leaders of the top 20 economies across the world.
Briefing reporters ahead of the G20 Summit, the U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said that Trump will also have meetings with President Mauricio Macri of Argentina, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Bolton said the Trump-Abe bilateral meeting would expand into a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi. No other details were immediately available. However, all eyes are expected to be on two meetings that Trump would have with the Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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Trump will be holding more than half a dozen bilateral meetings on the sidelines of this week's Group of 20 summits in Argentina, the White House said.
"While at the G20 the President and delegation will interact with many leaders, including bilateral meetings with the President of Argentina, the President of Russia, Prime Minister of Japan and the Chancellor of Germany, and a working dinner with the President of China," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told a White House briefing.
Asked whether Trump planned to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - who the Central Intelligence Agency reportedly believes authorized the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi - Sanders said an informal meeting remained a possibility.
"I wouldn't say we've ruled out any interaction," she said, although she stressed that "the President's schedule is pretty packed" and that no formal bilateral was planned.
PM Modi will travel to Argentina from November 28 to December 2 to take part in the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires. Modi will as well highlight the perils posed by oil price volatility and raise the issue of combating terror financing and money laundering, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
I would be taking part in the G-20 Summit in Argentina from 29th November to 1st December. During the Summit, important issues relating to sustainable development, the global economy, women empowerment would be discussed. https://t.co/jyPvgYQCO3 @g20org
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2018
The foreign secretary said Modi will also meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; Chilean President Sebastian Pinera; Mauricio Macri, the President of Argentina; German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He will also meet the prime ministers of Spain, Jamaica, the Netherlands and the president of the European Union and European Council.
A bilateral meeting between Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron is also being worked out.
-Sowmya Sangam
