President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accompanied by first lady Emine Erdoğan and a delegation of ministers and advisers, left for New Delhi on Friday to attend the G-20 summit set to start Saturday. The two-day summit will give Erdoğan a chance to continue Türkiye's international efforts to address global issues.
Term president India is hosting the two-day summit with the theme "One Earth, One Family, One Future." During the summit, G-20 leaders will exchange views in three sessions. Erdoğan will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) head Ibrahim Kalın, Directorate of Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and chief presidential adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç at the summit. He is expected to hold bilateral talks with various participating heads of state and governments on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit will cover a wide range of topics, from assistance to developing nations to reforms of international debt structures, food and energy security, climate financing and climate change as well as sustainable development. Following the summit, the leaders are expected to adopt a declaration.
Erdoğan will highlight Türkiye's steps to fight climate change at the summit and will be one of the key leaders at the summit, which is shunned by the leaders of Russia and China. Türkiye is among the countries making the most significant contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement with its 2053 net zero emissions and green development targets. Ankara works for a cleaner and greener Türkiye by implementing many projects, including a zero-waste initiative. In 2017, under the auspices of first lady Emine Erdoğan, Türkiye launched the zero-waste project to highlight the importance of eliminating waste in fighting the climate crisis. The project has drawn international praise, with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres expressing gratitude to the first lady during a conference in New York last September. Last December, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the zero waste initiative presented by Türkiye, declaring March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste.
"We will continue to work on this vital issue that concerns the common future of our world and humanity, both by fulfilling our own obligations and by taking initiatives at the global level. We will share these issues with our interlocutors at the G-20 summit and the U.N. General Assembly, and we will fulfill our duty toward our own citizens and all humanity," President Erdoğan said after a Cabinet meeting in August.
The president, an important figure in international diplomacy, raised his profile in changing international politics, sometimes as a mediator in international affairs and an outspoken defender of reforms in international bodies, such as the United Nations. The author of "A Fairer World Is Possible," he is a skilled diplomat who steered Türkiye's foreign policy to a new course, winning new friends for the country. Most recently, President Erdoğan sought to mediate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and managed to bring the sides together for a landmark grain deal. Although the grain deal was partially suspended by Russia later, Erdoğan continues his efforts for alternative plans for food security endangered due to the ongoing conflict.
He will explain Türkiye's perspective on international issues at the summit, as a head-of-state, closely watched by the international community. Türkiye's geopolitical stand is at the heart of conflicts affecting the world, from the Syrian crisis to the Russia-Ukraine war.
