U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is taking part in his first major international talks Thursday, joining a gathering of G20 foreign ministers in Germany.
Tillerson’s schedule includes a number of sideline meetings with individual ministers, including those from Britain, Turkey, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Brazil.
His most high profile meeting outside of the G20 talks themselves is with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Tillerson’s boss, U.S. President Donald Trump, has pushed a foreign policy vision that prioritizes U.S. interests, particularly when it comes to trade.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said ahead of a meeting with Tillerson that his country looks forward to working with the Trump administration “on all issues” and is optimistic about overcoming the many challenges in the Middle East.
A U.S. official said ahead of Tillerson’s trip that the former Exxon Mobil CEO would be using the meetings to mostly listen to his counterparts.
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