Obama to meet with leaders of Europe regarding fight against IS

Washington: US President Barack Obama will meet the leaders of Germany, Britain, Italy, and France on the sidelines of G20 summit next week in Turkey in hopes of making progress in the fight against Islamic State (IS), the White House said Thursday.

"We view the discussions of the G-20 as a useful opportunity for the key leaders to touch base and try to further concert our efforts," Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, told reporters during a daily press briefing.

She called the meeting with US key coalition partners in Europe "an opportunity to discuss in-depth the counter-ISIL (another acronym for IS) campaign", Xinhua reported.

"But I don't think anybody expects a single outcome that all of a sudden readily resolves all of these difficult issues," Rice said.

Meanwhile, Rice said that Obama has no plans to hold a formal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will also attend the G20 summit.

However, the two leaders would have "ample opportunity for discussion directly" on the sidelines of the summit, she added.

(IANS)