UN secretary general to attend ASEAN summit

October 19, 2017

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will join several world leaders including US President Donald Trump for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila on November, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will instead send their prime minister or premier - Dmitry Medvedev for Russia and Li Keqiang for China, Cayetano said.

As a diplomatic practice, Putin and Xi attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and skip the ASEAN’s East Asia Summit.

This year’s APEC summit will be held in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 10-11, while the ASEAN and EAS will be on Nov. 12-14.

The EAS is a regional forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on key challenges facing the East Asian region, groups the 10 ASEAN members and dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States and Russia.

President Rodrigo Duterte invited Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who, according to Cayetano, is “expected to come,” and European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker as friends of the chair.  DMS