Obama successor, Trudeau, Abe to be invited to ASEAN Summit 2017

MANILA, Philippines – The successor of United States President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, and Chinese President Xi Jinping might visit the country for the Philippines’ hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in 2017.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday, August 31, that aside from the heads of ASEAN member states, the organizing committee plans to invite the chiefs of US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and China for the 50th anniversary of ASEAN in 2017, which will be held in the Philippines.

The Office of President has sought a P15 billion ($321.92 million) capital spending for the ASEAN Summit 2017 hosting – the reason for the jump in its requested budget to P20.03 billion ($430.3 million) from this year’s P2.87 billion.

Diokno said “a big chunk” of the P15-billion budget will be used for car rentals for the dignitaries. 

Other than car rentals, Diokno told Philippine senators that most of the earmarked budget will be “spent domestically. In hotels, restaurants, local travel.”

“We might even expand the number of visitors. So there is the president of the US, [prime minister of] Canada, and others,” Diokno said during the briefing.

In November, the US will choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on who will be its next president.

When asked to elaborate, Diokno said in a text message that other non-ASEAN heads of states are also eyed to grace the event here in the Philippines.

“No definite information. I was just informed by the organizing committee [about] the possibility of inviting other non-ASEAN heads of states to the 50th celebration. Definitely China, Korea, and Japan will come as part of ASEAN+3,” Diokno said.

ASEAN member states are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. – Rappler.com