WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in an unprecedented trilateral summit in Shenzhen, China, next week, the White House has confirmed.
The meeting is scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and is expected to focus on global nuclear arms reduction and the conflict in Iran.
According to White House officials, Trump intends to discuss reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles and addressing the risks associated with their proliferation.
The proposed meeting comes after the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in February, which ended the last major bilateral limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia.
However, a senior US administration official said Washington does not expect the initial trilateral discussions to produce a formal arms control agreement, describing the meeting as an opening conversation among the three leaders.
The ongoing war in Ukraine is not expected to feature on the trilateral agenda, as Washington is pursuing separate diplomatic channels to address the conflict.
The historic gathering will bring together the leaders of the world's three major nuclear powers to discuss pressing international security challenges.
The meeting is also expected to mark a significant diplomatic development amid rising international tensions and efforts to establish a new framework for nuclear arms control.
