MANILA, Philippines – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo will no longer attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in the Philippines, officials said Thursday, November 12.
Instead of Putin, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is representing their country, Russian news agency TASS reported.
"I can confirm that Prime Minister will represent Russia at APEC summit in Manila," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS.
Peskov pointed out that Medvedev plans to visit other Southeast Asian countries anyway.
"In this respect, from the viewpoint of optimization of schedules of the top leadership of the country, president has made a decision not to go that far together with the premier with literally 1-2 days' difference," Peskov said.
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose said the Philippines is still confirming this.
Indonesia’s Widodo will also skip the APEC Summit in Manila, Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Laura del Rosario said Thursday.
Widodo’s trade minister will represent him.
Del Rosario said she spoke with a senior Indonesian official, who said Widodo needs to attend to domestic issues in their country.
The Indonesian official explained that Widodo is “coming from the G20 Meeting in Turkey,” and also has to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Somehow, I think he decided to get that period in between to go home and to address some domestic concerns,” Del Rosario said.
World leaders, such as United States President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, have confirmed their attendance in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting from November 18 to 19.
Founded in 1989, APEC is the highest-level, most influential forum in the Asia-Pacific. (READ: APEC what? An explainer on Manila’s high-profile week)