Heads of the US and Germany on the eve of the G20 summit held telephone talks and agreed to meet before the event in Hamburg, scheduled for July 7 - 8. It is unlikely that politicians will be able to make any fateful decisions - a personal meeting will allow them only to identify and adjust positions on contentious issues.
A telephone conversation between Trump and Merkel took place the day before on the initiative of the American side. The politicians held a "thorough discussion" about trade relations and climate issues, including the excess production of steel. Attention to the last topic was dictated by the recent decision of the US to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate and the negative reaction of European countries to this, the "Newspaper. RU".
In addition, Trump and Merkel discussed the agenda of the summit, as well as the timing and theme of the personal meeting. It will be held on July 6, before the opening of the "Group of Twenty". The parties will discuss the threat of terrorism and the financing of UN peacekeeping missions, the White House said..
According to experts, the leaders of the US and Germany intend to use the forthcoming meeting at the summit to improve relations between countries. However, each side wants to achieve improvements on its own terms. The sources of contradictions are the failed project of a transatlantic free trade and investment zone, as well as relations with Russia and China. The summit in Hamburg will be, "in fact, a preparatory meeting, which should reveal some common ground in order to conduct a more or less coordinated policy," believes the Associate Professor of the Higher School of Economics Dmitriy Ofitserov-Belsky (his words are broadcast by Radio Sputnik).
The upcoming event is of great importance for Angela Merkel, who participates in the pre-election race. It is important for her to show both her constituents and opponents that Berlin maintains strong relations with a powerful North American ally, but is not going to dance to his tune. "Under the new conditions, the pre-election race turns into a competition between political forces in the ability to clearly tell the main former overseas patron - the US, that Germany also has its own German interests," said Ainura Asakeeva, a German political scientist.
On the eve of the Hamburg event, Trump spoke on the phone and with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. During the conversation, the situation in Libya and the migration crisis in the European Union were touched upon.
On the margins of the G20 summit, Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the assistant to the Russian head Yuri Ushakov, preparations for the meeting are under way. A representative of the administration noted that the American side wants to discuss the topics of Ukraine and Syria. "It seems to me that this is quite logical - these two topics should be discussed. But we believe that the problem of international terrorism will need to be discussed by the two leaders of leading powers in the first place, "Ushakov stressed.. As expected, Putin and Trump can discuss the situation with Russian diplomatic property in Washington and New York.
The Presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States have already spoken on the phone several times, but the event in Hamburg will be their first personal meeting. Experts do not expect breakthroughs from it, but consider that it can become a basis for improving relations between countries. The director of the Kennan Institute in Washington, Matthew Rozhansky, believes that Trump and Putin "will not go into too much detail, since there is a risk of failure". Such caution on the part of the White House is due to the fact that the US president is under pressure, related to alleged interference of Russia in the presidential elections in the United States.
In general, from personal meetings of world leaders on the G20, one should not wait for sensational decisions. "Summits are not for this purpose. This is rather an event for mass meetings of politicians with each other, when it is possible to talk with the leaders of other states not on official visits, but in a sufficiently large number and in a fairly limited time. This is the place where you can raise topical issues for all, and, perhaps, somehow adjust the position of other countries, "believes political analyst Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky.