Thanks to the transport and energy projects jointly implemented by Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the Caspian Sea region will gain a strategic significance in the world, Turkish president Abdullah Gul said at the international forum dedicated to transport and communication held in Istanbul on Thursday.

US President Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin were Thursday set to argue out their differences on the Syria crisis over dinner at the G20 in Russia as world leaders sought to overcome a deep chasm over a US-led push for military action.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Wednesday pledged to unite Mali as he was sworn in to lead the deeply-divided west African nation’s emergence from months of political crisis and conflict.