President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, and Trump kicked off the highly anticipated bilateral meeting by telling him, "It's an honor to be with you."
Neither of the world leaders, who were accompanied by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, offered any specifics of what they would be discussing during their bilateral meeting.
"President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it's going very well. We've had some very, very good talks. We are going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue," Trump said. "But we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States, and for everybody concerned, and it's an honor to be with you."
Putin shared the same cordial sentiment, through a translator, to Trump and said that the two leaders "will really need personal meetings" to resolve their policy differences.
"We have spoken on the phone with you several times before on very important bilateral and international issues. But phone conversation is never enough," Putin said. "I’m delighted to be able to meet you personally, Mr. President. And I hope, as you have said, our meeting will yield positive result."
Trump and Putin informally met earlier Friday morning on the sidelines of the G-20 summit alongside other leaders, according to several news sources on social media.
The long-awaited handshake between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin https://t.co/I9qZZDZmMa pic.twitter.com/ibFlLHmaPL
— Bloomberg (@business) July 7, 2017
Trump was optimistic going into the meeting with Putin, as he voiced on Twitter that he would "represent our country well and fight for its interests."
I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss.#G20Summit #USA🇺🇸
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2017
I will represent our country well and fight for its interests! Fake News Media will never cover me accurately but who cares! We will #MAGA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2017