Don’t read too much into leaders’ absence, says Apec official

The organizers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Manila on Sunday said people should stop overthinking as to why an economic leader would not attend the meeting.

“Sometimes, I don’t want other people to read too much into why a leader cannot attend (the Apec summit),” Apec 2015 Senior Officials’ Meeting chair and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario told the members of the local and international press in a briefing at the International Media Center in Pasay City.

“We always look at [the leader’s absence in the Apec meeting as] something happening in the domestic front. I hope you don’t take it as a leader’s priority [to skip the meeting] that there’s something happening in the domestic front,” Del Rosario added.

The foreign affairs undersecretary said no economic leader had expressed an intention to skip the summit following the series of attacks in Paris which killed more than 120 people on Saturday.

It has been earlier reported that Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Russian President Vladimir Putin have decided to sit out Apec and instead send Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, respectively, to attend the summit on their behalf.

Del Rosario said the fact that Kremlin would be sending Medvedev meant “Russia really finds Apec very important.”

On Kalla, Del Rosario said the summit was lucky to have his participation as he is one of the “ablest executives and politicians in Indonesia.”

“We really welcome his participation in Apec. I know that he will contribute a lot in the discussions of the issues before Apec,” she said.

The Apec Economic Leaders Meeting will be held on Nov. 18 to 19 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). This will be attended by 21 leaders from the member economies, which include US President Barack Obama, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping.