Japan’s Abe leaves PHL after ASEAN Summit

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left the Philippines on Wednesday morning after attending the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Meetings.

The plane carrying Abe took off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 11:20 a.m.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves to well-wishers before leaving Manila for Japan on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. Department of Transportation

He arrived at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga on Sunday afternoon for the two-day summit.

Abe is serving his second term as the head of the Japanese government since 2012 and will likely be Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.

Other leaders who are set to leave on Wednesday are from Timor Leste, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, South Korea, and the European Union.

There will be no special ceremony, and consequently no media coverage, for the departures of the heads of states. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News