Meet the 21 leaders attending the APEC meeting next week

All 21 leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies are confirmed to attend the Economic Leaders’ Meeting next week, the organizing council said Monday.

Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr., director general of the APEC 2015 National Organizing Council, said there has been no notice of cancellation so far from any of the member economies.

“They are all coming as far as we know, unless they write to us officially that they are not. So the expectation is all of the leaders are coming,” said Paynor.

The Philippines is hosting the 2015 APEC Summit on November 18 to 19.

Aside from President Benigno Aquino III, the other leaders of the APEC member economies are:

1. Australia- Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

2. Brunei – Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah

3. Canada - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

4. Chile – President Michelle Bachelet

5. China- President Xi Jinping

6. Hong Kong- China Chief Executive CY Leung

7. Indonesia- President Joko Widodo

8. Japan – Prime Minister Shinz? Abe

9. Malaysia- Prime Minister Najib Razak

10. Mexico - President Enrique Peña Nieto

11. New Zealand– Prime Minister John Key

12. Papua New Guinea -Prime Minister Peter O’Neill

13. Peru – President Ollanta Humala

14. Russia -President Vladimir Putin

15. Singapore – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

16. South Korea -President Park Geun-hye

17. Taipei, China – President Ma Ying-jeou

18. Thailand – Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha

19. USA- President Barack Obama

20. Vietnam- President  Truong Tan Sang 

However, in the case of Taipei, China the President's respresentative Siew Wan-chang who is also the Vice President of Taiwan will attend the summit conference.

A ranking official of the Department of Foreign Affairs said the leaders of APEC member economies never use the summit as a venue of protest by not attending the leaders meeting.

While the summit conference and the ministerial meetings discuss "everything affecting the economic life of man," the Philippine official, who asked not to be named, noted the summit has never been a venue to thresh out political or governance issues.

Apart from hosting the leaders meeting, President Aquino is going to hold 11 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit conference. – VS/JST/KG, GMA News