Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday (22 May) on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in the Swedish city of Helsingborg.
According to diplomatic sources, Fidan and Rubio discussed the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, including regional security challenges, alliance cooperation and efforts to boost NATO’s defence-industrial capabilities.
Speaking ahead of the ministerial meeting, Rubio said NATO must remain “good for all involved,” while voicing hope that the talks in Sweden would help lay the groundwork for the upcoming Ankara summit.
Preparations for the summit come amid growing debate within member countries over defence spending, military production and the U.S. role in the alliance.
Turkish officials have sought to present the upcoming summit as an opportunity to reinforce the alliance’s cohesion amid mounting geopolitical pressures, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over future U.S. military deployments in Europe.
The meeting in Helsingborg comes only weeks before NATO leaders convene in the Turkish capital in July for a leaders’ summit focused on enhancing collective defence and reaffirming the alliance’s unity.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Friday that the summit would play a key role in shaping the alliance’s future defence strategy, especially in areas such as military production and spending targets.
Speaking to reporters in Helsingborg, Rutte also praised Türkiye’s growing defence industry as an example for other NATO allies.
The summit is planned to take place over two days, on 7 and 8 July. It is likely to focus on NATO’s long-term deterrence posture and its goal of raising defence spending towards higher benchmarks agreed at previous meetings.
Türkiye, which last hosted a NATO summit in Istanbul in 2004, has sought to position the upcoming summit as an opportunity to reinforce unity across the alliance, while highlighting its own growing role in both regional security and defence manufacturing.
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UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 11 November. Today, we cover Russia-Ukraine peace talks, political tensions in Washington, strikes in Spain, espionage allegations involving Nvidia's CEO, and climate negotiations at COP31 in Türkiye.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Four million workers across Spain joined a general strike on Wednesday over the country’s deepening housing crisis, unions said, bringing disruption to factories, ports, shops and public transport just weeks before a snap general election.
Afghan and Russian businesses signed 15 trade agreements worth $103 million in Kabul on Thursday during a visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Afghanistan’s government said.
Rising demand for air cargo and expanding international aviation networks are opening up new trade opportunities for Central Asia and the South Caucasus, as countries invest in airports and strengthen their roles in global supply chains.
Kazakhstan’s security service has arrested Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of Samruk-Kazyna, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, on suspicion of corruption. Yelzhas Otynshiyev, Chairman of KTZ, Kazakhstan’s national railway firm has also been detained.
An Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has killed at least six people, including a surgeon, and wounded 20 others, according to Gaza’s civil defence service.
The competitiveness of international trade depends on how efficiently goods move across borders. These issues are in focus at the 22nd International Exhibition of Transport and Logistics – TransLogistica Uzbekistan 2026, taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 10 to 12 November.
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