Trump to skip East Asia Summit in Manila, but will attend ASEAN-US meeting

October 25, 2017

US President Donald Trump is skipping the East Asia Summit n Manila on Nov. 14, but will attend two other key Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings and possibly hold bilateral talks with President Rodrigo Duterte, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.

“Based on the schedule that the US side has given us, US President Donald Trump will be in Manila for the Special Gala Celebration of the 50th anniversary of ASEAN on November 12 and the ASEAN-US Summit on November 13, all to be held in Manila. The Philippine and US sides are also working out a bilateral meeting between the two Presidents,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said in a statement.

EAS groups the 10 ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. Dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Russia are part of EAS.

The ASEAN summit and other related meetings will be held in Manila on Nov. 12-14. DMS