In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

World leaders set to arrive in PH for ASEAN Summit this weekend

By Kris Crismundo

November 9, 2017, 7:51 pm

CLARK, Pampanga -- World leaders are expected to start arriving in the Philippines this weekend to attend the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits in Manila.

Most of the leaders will land at Clark International Airport, over 100 kilometers from the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, the venue for the majority of the meetings.

Before the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits kick off on Monday, Nov. 13, some ASEAN leaders are expected to grace the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2017 to launch the ASEAN Business Advisory Councils’ (ASEAN BAC) flagship project, the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN).

According to the ASEAN BAC, it invited President Rodrigo Duterte, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

They will be joined by other ASEAN leaders in the evening for a gala dinner. After which, the ASEAN leaders will be meeting their counterparts in the East Asia Summit Leaders’ Retreat that will include Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, India, United States, and Russia.

On Monday, there will be an opening ceremony for the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

This will be followed by the 31st ASEAN Summit Plenary Session.

The 10 ASEAN leaders will be meeting Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang  at the 20th ASEAN-China Summit, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the 20th ASEAN-Japan Summit, and Korean President Moon Jae-in for the 19th ASEAN- Republic of Korea Summit.

ASEAN leaders will also attend the 9th ASEAN-United Nations Summit and meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

On the same day, the leaders will also have interface sessions with the private sector--the ASEAN BAC and the East Asia Business Council, where Li, Abe, and Moon will join the ASEAN leaders in this meeting.

By Tuesday, the 12th East Asia Summit and the 15th ASEAN-India Summit will take place.

During the two-day summit, four commemorative summits will be held: the 5th ASEAN-US Summit to commemorate the 40th anniversary of ASEAN-US Dialogue Relations; the 20th ASEAN Plus Three Commemorative Summit; ASEAN-Canada 40th Commemorative Summit; and ASEAN-European Union 40th Anniversary Commemorative Summit.

The 10 ASEAN leaders and leaders of its dialogue partners -- Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, and India -- will meet for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit.

Also on Tuesday, the Philippines will hand over the ASEAN Chairmanship to Singapore for the ASEAN Summit 2018. (PNA)

Comments