American President Barack Obama said on Monday that there are still “differences between his country and Russian regarding Syria”, stressing that a ceasefire would facilitate fighting terrorism including Daesh and Al-Nusra Front, AlKhaleejOnline.com reported.
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“I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s productive and we’re getting something done”, Obama said during his news conference.
Photos of the session distributed by the Kremlin show the two leaders and aides, including Kerry and US National Security Adviser Susan Rice, seated around a table.
The Chinese authorities pulled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President François Hollande, Brazilian President Michel Temer and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
The U.S. has been trying unsuccessfully to broker a cease-fire with Russian Federation in Syria that will hold.
In a written response to the Hindustan Times about China’s version of the meeting, the foreign ministry said both sides raised “common concerns” but did not give details.
Putin noted that Syria was high on the agenda of discussions during his meetings on the sideline of the summit and that Moscow would confer with the Syrian government on the progress of the talks and also inform Iran.
Putin and Obama were talking for about 1.5 hours. The presidents talked “ways in which we can institute a meaningful, serious, verifiable cessation of hostilities in Syria and our capacity to provide some humanitarian relief” to the Syrian people, Obama told the media.
“The one thing that we have to ensure we do is to move in concert with other countries, because there is always a danger that if one. acts unilaterally, that it’s not just a matter of a USA company being impacted, but it may also have an impact in terms of our ability to collect taxes from that same company”, Obama said.
“The faster we can offer some relief to folks on ground”, he said, “the better off we’re going to be”. “And, I think, over the long-term, it will be in China’s interests, as well”, Obama said in an interview recorded before he left for China. “We’ll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement”.
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Earlier, Obama said that he would expect Russian Federation to be a partner in helping to improve the situation in Syria.
