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Philippines confirms Russian president not to attend APEC summit

Xinhua, November 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in Manila next week, a senior government official confirmed Friday.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary and APEC spokesman Charles Jose said Putin would instead be represented by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during the leaders' summit on Nov. 18-19.

He said Putin called up Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III and discussed matters related to Philippine-Russia bilateral cooperation and his absence in the APEC summit.

"President Putin also discussed with President Aquino the reasons for his inability to attend the APEC Summit," Jose said.

On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario said that Indonesian President Joko Widodo would skip the APEC summit to attend to domestic matters.

Jose said the Philippines was still awaiting formal confirmation from the Indonesian government on their representative to the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Endit