9 leaders who attended ASEAN summits leave PHL Wednesday

Nine world leaders who attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila this week are set to leave on Wednesday.

A report by Mark Salazar on News To Go said the leaders of Timor Leste, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan and the European Union are scheduled to fly out of the country by midday.

Their official departure times are confidential for security purposes.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will leave the country on Thursday, after extending his ASEAN Summit attendance into a state visit.

There will be no special ceremony, and consequently no media coverage, for the departures of the heads of states.

Many of the leaders who attended the Summit left prior to the closing of the high-level event and its related meetings on Tuesday night, when President Rodrigo Duterte turned over the chairmanship of the regional bloc to Singapore.

Among the leaders who have already left the Philippines are US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Trump left on Tuesday afternoon, cutting short his Asia trip and skipping the East Asia Summit in Manila due to a delay in the meeting’s schedule.

Also already out of the Philippines were Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith had left even earlier, Monday, to attend to a state visitor in Vientiane.

The Summit saw in attendance 21 world leaders---from the ASEAN and its dialogue partners---and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

Motorists are advised to be aware of the stop-and-go traffic scheme in the roads where the convoys of the officials will pass.

The northbound-ASEAN lanes were also still implemented on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority will not issue a no-fly zone notice for the departures of the leaders who are set to leave on Wednesday. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/ALG, GMA News