Erdoğan participates in G20 virtual summit on coronavirus

Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies convened a video conference on March 26 to discuss the coronavirus epidemic. Erdoğan attended the virtual summit from the Huber Mansion in Istanbul's Tarabya neighborhood.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan participated in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies to address the growing coronavirus pandemic via video conference on March 26.

Erdoğan joined the meeting from the Huber Mansion in Istanbul's Tarabya neighborhood. He was accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Finance and Treasury Minister Berat Albayrak, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and G20 Turkey Sherpa Hayrettin Demircan.

Following the summit, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said that Erdoğan had urged his fellow world leaders to take swift action to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

Erdoğan said during the summit that countries must "act immediately" as they did during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the agency said, citing presidential sources.

"Nocountry has the luxury of impledmenting protectionist, unilateralpolicies,” Erdoğan said.

Hesaid the G20 bloc countries must guide, take responsibility, andshow global cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

"All measures to tackle coronavirus should be compatible with WTO [World Trade Organization] rules, and encourage global cooperation," Erdoğan reportedly said.