Trump, Putin meet during G20 Summit, wish for 'positive results'

US President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday face-to-face for the first time on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here and wished for "positive results" from the meeting, media reports said.

"President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it's going very well," the New York Times quoted Trump as saying. "We look forward to a lot of very positive happenings for Russia and for the United States, and for everyone concerned."

For his part, Putin said he was happy to have the chance to meet Trump in person. "We spoke over the phone," he said, "but phone conversations are never enough, definitely."

He added: "I hope that, as you have said, our meetings will yield positive results."

Only six people attended the meeting -- Trump and his Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson; Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov; and two interpreters.

Announcing the meeting on Tuesday, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said it would be a very important meeting "and everybody has been waiting for it". He added that the meeting "will be particularly important for ensuring global stability".

The White House had assured that no formal agenda had been set out for the talks between the two heads of state, though Trump was said to want to promote cooperation in dealing with the North Korean threat, Syria or the campaign against the Islamic State terror organisation.

--IANS

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