U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the informal NATO foreign ministers meeting in Türkiye, the State Department announced on Sunday.
It will be Rubio’s first visit to Türkiye since he took office.
“Looking toward the NATO Summit in The Hague this June, the Secretary will advance President Trump’s agenda of ensuring that our Allies contribute their fair share to making NATO stronger and more effective,” the State Department said in a statement regarding the meeting, which will be held in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.
Turkish media outlets had reported in February that Rubio omitted Türkiye from his itinerary of a Middle East and Gulf tour, reportedly amid a fallout between Washington, D.C. and Ankara. However, a recent phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demonstrated that the two countries were on good terms and looking forward to strengthening their ties, which had significantly deteriorated under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.