Trump likely to attend Asean Summit in PH, says envoy

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United States President Donald Trump will probably to attend the 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in the Philippines in November, the Department of Foreign Affiars (DFA) said Wednesday.

Ambassador Marciano Paynor, who serves as the Asean 2017 National Organizing Council director-general for operations, said Trump had “indicated” his desire to attend the summit after his phone conversation with President Rodrigo Duterte last December.

“(A)s of now, President Trump, for instance, when President Duterte called him up to congratulate him, had already indicated that he was coming in November,’ Paynor said.

Duterte has said he had invited Trump to attend the Asean Summit in the country. Trump also invited Duterte to visit White House this 2017.

“So at least verbally he (Trump) said he was coming,” Paynor said.

Duterte has repeatedly slammed the US for interfering in his administration’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.

But Duterte softened his stance against the US after Trump’s win, saying adding he could get along well with the US President. /atm