“We’re not there yet”, Mr Obama told reporters after a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
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“Given the previous failures of cessations of hostilities to hold, we approach it with some skepticism, but it is worth trying”, Obama said.
A grinding global economic recovery and the anti-globalisation backlash is clearly making it harder for world leaders to continue papering over difficult issues.
Both Russian and United States officials said the meeting – which was held in a conference room at the G20 summit site here – lasted longer than planned, and that leaders spent the bulk of their meeting discussing Syria. Washington has imposed import duties of up to 500 percent on Chinese steel to offset what regulators say are improper subsidies.
China hopes its status as this year’s G-20 leader will increase its influence in global economic management.
File picture of US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, before their meeting in Paris, June 5, 2014. But U.S. was wary of enter a deal that would not be effective.
The meeting got off to a rocky start Saturday when there was no staircase at the airport for President Barack Obama to exit his plane.
Overwhelming security characterized the gathering throughout, with Hangzhou, a city of 2.5 million, brought to a standstill to facilitate the event.
The G-20 leaders met as North Korea launched three ballistic missiles off its east coast – a defiant reminder of the challenges to global security.
The strategy has hinged on an unlikely U.S.
“Now of course we have to enforce and to follow up”, the official added.
China has responded angrily to Seoul’s decision to base the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital, Seoul.
With the theme of “Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”, the summit has put the issue of development front and center of the global macro policy framework for the first time.
Beijing complains the system will allow the US military to peer deep into northeastern China. There should be no distinction between “good terrorists or bad”, he said, an indirect reference both to Gulen and to US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria whom the Turks regard as a threat to their national security.
“Clearly someone funds and arms them and BRICS must intensify joint efforts not just to fight terror but to coordinate actions to isolate those who are supporters and sponsors of terror”, he said, without naming Pakistan which is a close ally of China.
Obama said the USA was committed to “investigating and bringing the perpetrators of these illegal actions to justice” and assured Erdogan of American cooperation with Turkish authorities.
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THE US is sceptical an agreement with Russian Federation to end violence in Syria can work but will keep pursuing it nonetheless, president Barack Obama said as negotiators from both countries edged towards a deal.
