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Biden to travel to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia for November summits
Biden will then travel to Cambodia from Nov. 12-13 to participate in the annual US-ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, the White House said in a statement. After that, Biden will visit Indonesia Nov. 13-16 to participate in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, it added.
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US President Joe Biden gestures as he departs for Japan from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek on May 22, 2022. (AFP/Kim Hong-Ji)
U
S President Joe Biden will travel to Egypt to participate in the COP27 United Nations climate change summit on Nov. 11, where he will call on the world to act "in this decisive decade", the White House said on Friday.
Biden will then travel to Cambodia from Nov. 12-13 to participate in the annual US-ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, the White House said in a statement. After that, Biden will visit Indonesia Nov. 13-16 to participate in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, it added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog first disclosed Biden's visit to Egypt during a meeting with the US president in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would use COP27 to "build on the significant work the United States has undertaken to advance the global climate fight and help the most vulnerable build resilience to climate impacts."
In Cambodia, Biden will reaffirm the United States' enduring commitment to Southeast Asia, while underscoring the importance of US-ASEAN cooperation in ensuring security and prosperity in the region, Jean-Pierre said, quoted by Reuters.
In Bali, Biden will work with G20 partners to address key challenges such as climate change, the global impact of Putin's war on Ukraine, including on energy and food security and affordability, and a range of other priorities important to the global economic recovery, the White House said.
Vice President Kamala Harris would also travel to Asia and North Africa, following the president's visit, the White House said.
Harris will travel to Bangkok to attend the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting, underscoring Washington's commitment to economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
She will also travel to Manila, where she will meet with government leaders and civil society representatives, the White House said.
Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the United States next month in Bangkok in the third in a trio of Asian summits, the White House confirmed Friday, as President Joe Biden returns for his granddaughter's wedding.
Biden will travel on November 11 to the annual UN climate conference in Egypt before heading to the East Asia Summit in Cambodia and the Group of 20 in Bali, the White House said.
But he will not attend the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum taking place in the Thai capital on November 18-19.
Harris will attend instead and travel afterward to the Philippines, a longtime US ally, with her husband, Doug Emhoff.
The White House said in a statement that her visit would "re-affirm and strengthen the US-Philippines Alliance and underscore the breadth of our cooperation as friends, partners and allies."
The United States is hoping for a smooth relationship with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after rough patches with his abrasive predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcos scrapped a deal to buy military helicopters from Russia, the target of a US pressure campaign over its invasion of Ukraine, and has instead sealed a deal with the United States.
Thailand is also a treaty ally of the United States. Diplomats say that Thailand has been resigned to if not pleased with Biden's decision to skip the APEC summit.
His eldest granddaughter, Naomi Biden, earlier this year announced plans to get married on November 19 on the White House's South Lawn, only the 19th wedding ever held at the US executive mansion, according to the White House Historical Association.
Biden will likely have a chance to visit Thailand in 2023 when the kingdom takes over from Cambodia as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which leads the annual East Asia Summit.
Asian diplomats and experts put high value on US presidents' attendance at such summits, seeing them as proof of Washington's stated commitment to the region at a time when China is seeking to exert its clout.
But then US president Donald Trump also skipped the last in-person APEC summit, in 2018 in Papua New Guinea, with vice president Mike Pence attending instead.
It looks improbable that Biden will miss the APEC summit next year as the host is the United States, AFP reported.
The summit venue has not been announced but the State Department said that APEC top diplomats will hold a preparatory meeting in August 2023 in Seattle, three months after the bloc's trade officials gather in Detroit.
