Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Sedat Önal and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale met on February 5, in Washington, D.C. to launch working groups on bilateral and regional affairs.

They reaffirmed the strategic importance of the U.S.-Turkish relationship and committed to addressing shared concerns as allies. Following a plenary meeting, senior U.S. and Turkish officials met in working group formats to discuss bilateral cooperation on Syria; counterterrorism; defense matters; and judicial and consular issues. The two sides expressed their determination to continue to work together to achieve further progress on all these areas.