Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he and President Donald Trump had made "meaningful progress" on a range of regional and bilateral issues at their first meeting in the White House in six years, where they discussed defence cooperation and trade,
Reuters reports.
However, a readout of Erdogan's comments to reporters on his return trip from Washington made no direct reference to Turkey's purchases of Russian oil or of U.S. fighter jets, which were a central part of Thursday's talks.
After a cool relationship with Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, Ankara has been keen to leverage the friendly personal ties between Erdogan and Trump and to take advantage of a U.S. administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.
Erdogan said they had exchanged views on steps to boost trade, including the revision of customs duties to achieve their $100-billion target, and added that he had left "happy" after the meeting.
"It's certainly impossible to resolve every issue in a single meeting. However, this meeting has led to meaningful progress on many issues," he said according to a transcript shared by his office on Friday.
