by Burak Akinci
ANTALYA, Türkiye, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye will host a three-day forum on global diplomacy from Friday with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Gaza crisis and climate change among the topics on the agenda.
The Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF), now in its third edition, will bring together more than 20 heads of state and government, as well as 90 ministers and other prominent figures, to discuss how to address the challenges facing the world.
The forum, held under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, aims to promote Türkiye's regional and global role in diplomacy, as well as to foster dialogue and cooperation among the participants.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend the forum and talk with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, his spokesperson said on Wednesday. The two sides have been preparing for a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Türkiye, which has been delayed several times.
Lavrov and Fidan are expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine, where Russia launched a military operation in 2022 that triggered Western sanctions and a diplomatic standoff. Türkiye, a NATO member, has tried to mediate between Moscow and Kiev, while maintaining good ties with both.
Türkiye had brokered a deal with the United Nations in 2022 to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grains through the Black Sea, but the deal was later abandoned.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not say if Lavrov would meet his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba at the forum, as he did in 2022 in a rare face-to-face encounter.
The forum will also address the ongoing conflict in Gaza, where Israel and Palestinian militants have been exchanging fire for more than four months, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians and displacing nearly 2 million.
A Turkish diplomat told Xinhua that the Gaza issue would be high on the agenda of the forum, as it has the potential to spread and affect the stability of the region and the world.
The diplomat said that a side event would be held to gather members of the Gaza Contact Group, which was formed by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to take action to end the violence in Gaza and achieve a lasting peace.
The forum's theme this year is "Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil," reflecting the current global landscape marked by multiple crises and uncertainties.
The forum will feature 50 sessions covering various topics, such as climate change, terrorism, food security, artificial intelligence and space diplomacy.
The forum, which started in 2021, was postponed last year due to the twin earthquakes that hit southeastern Türkiye in February 2023, killing more than 53,000 people in the country's worst disaster in modern history. ■
