Obama cancels trip to APEC summit

Type the titleU.S. President Barack Obama cancelled his trip to Asia scheduled for next week, including the summit Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on the Indonesian island of Bali. As reported on Thursday evening by the press office of the White House, the decision was made due to U.S. government shutdown and continuing negotiations on this issue with the Congress. The President’s trip to Indonesia and Brunei was canceled, the press service said. Earlier this week, the White House announced the cancellation of Obama's visit to Malaysia and the Philippines, which also should have taken place in the course of his Asian tour. Obama planned to start his Asian tour this coming Saturday. At the APEC leaders' meeting the US will be represented by State Secretary John Kerry, as reported earlier by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa that is already on Bali. Natalegawa noted that Obama informed on his decision to cancel the Asian trip including the visit of the APEC summit in a phone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The APEC summit will be held on the Indonesian island of Bali October 5-7, and in Brunei October 9-10 will take place the meeting of the East Asian Community. On Thursday, October 3, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the agenda of a possible meeting between Russian and U.S. presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama on the sidelines of the APEC summit. “The agenda of this meeting is being finalized. We believe that this meeting will take place,” he said adding that the meeting was planned for October 7. “This was Russia’s initiative to hold the meeting and it was at once supported by the American side,” Ushakov said noting that the leaders “may discuss any themes” placing a focus on the situation in Syria. “We are always open for such contacts. We attach great importance to them as concerns bilateral agenda and pressing foreign-policy themes, which is extremely important for international security and settlement of grave crises,” the aide said. “Last time the leaders had a productive meeting in the G8 Summit in Lough Erne. Then they had dynamic contacts in St. Petersburg (the G20 summit). It is quite logic to meet in Bali. We support this,” Ushakov said. here Type the text here