In his opening speech at the start of the two-day G20 Summit on Sunday, he said the G20 had drawn up action plans in multiple fields, including sustainable development, green finance, energy efficiency and anti-corruption, “and we should implement each of them seriously”.
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In talks earlier on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to come to terms on a ceasefire for the second time in two weeks, with U.S. officials stressing they would walk away if a near-term pact could not be reached.
Obama complained about “gaps of trust” between himself and Putin to CNN.
Obama has expressed skepticism that Russian Federation would hold to its agreement.
White House spokesman Ned Price said Obama and Putin were huddling on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit, with details of their informal meeting expected to be released later Monday.
Obama said “the typical the tone of our meetings are candid, blunt and businesslike and this one was no different”.
Xi said China opposed the USA deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea to counter missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.
He highlighted the need to provide humanitarian relief to those in Syria, and said the nations are working on a instituting a “meaningful, serious, viable cessation of hostilities” there.
Democratic officials have blamed Russian Federation for hacking the Democratic National Committee and other party elements – a source of great disruption in the 2016 presidential race.
Mr Obama’s meeting with Mr Putin came as the Russian Federation leader is at the centre of controversy surrounding the USA presidential election. On Monday, it was reported that U.S. intelligence agencies are probing what they believe are Russian efforts to influence the vote.
“G-20 partners carried forward the spirit of solidarity for closer coordination of macroeconomic policies”, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a press conference after the annual event.
Speaking to reporters in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, he said it was premature to give details about the terms of the agreement, but that Russian Federation would strengthen co-operation with the United States on fighting terrorism.
Obama and Putin also discussed the conflict in Ukraine – a crisis that Obama had earlier discussed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
They also discussed prominent issues affecting the world economy, including climate change, refugee, anti-terrorism financing and global public health.
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“I’m really hoping that this agreement can be reached and I have grounds to believe it could happen in the next few days”, said Putin. In the meantime, Syrian government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
