WASHINGTON (AP):
President Donald Trump will meet with Delcy Rodriguez, the acting president of Venezuela, for the first time next week since his administration carried out an operation to capture the nation’s former leader and effectively put Rodriguez in charge.
The gathering in New York City between the two leaders will be a “pull-aside” – diplomatic speak for a meeting that is more casual than a formal bilateral sit-down – said Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations. Trump will be in town for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
Waltz also said Trump will meet with Andy Burnham, the United Kingdom prime minister, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The Trump-Burnham meeting will be their first since Burnham became prime minister in July.
Trump also will meet with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. The meeting comes as the US has struggled to find an endgame to the Iran war after more than six months.
Rodríguez took over in Venezuela after a surprise US military raid in January that captured then-leader Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.
The first meeting between Trump and Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president, comes after the two countries announced an agreement last month to give the United States a stake in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. She described the deal as a step towards economic recovery that will modernise the country’s oil industry.
Senior administration officials said they couldn’t confirm whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would seek a meeting with Trump while in New York for the UN General Assembly, but suggested it was unlikely. The officials, who insisted on anonymity as a ground rule for holding the call, said that Netanyahu’s time in New York would be quite limited during the Israeli electoral season, and that the prime minister wasn’t expected to arrive there until after Trump leaves.
The officials also downplayed the prospects of the war in Iran dominating the annual gathering of world leaders.
