Obama's
headed to Honolulu,
Australia and then
Bali.
MANILA, Philippines -- President Benigno Aquino III will have a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama during the 19th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Meetings in Indonesia on November 18, 2011, upon the latter's request.
In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said that “the meeting will come on the heels of the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to mark the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States.” Read more
Before Obama heads to Bali, he'll be in Honolulu for APEC:
Now, President Obama will arrive in Honolulu to, among other things, attempt to get APEC nations to agree to lower tariffs on renewable energy products. He will also continue to negotiate the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Obama administration initiative with eight Asian nations, with the objective of shaping a broad-based regional trade pact that would include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Look for announcements of Japanese participation and a framework for the TPP agreement to be announced alongside the APEC summit.
After the APEC summit, President Obama will travel to Bali and attend the East Asia Summit, a fairly new 18-nation security forum—becoming the first U.S. president to attend this annual meeting.
All this activity is especially dramatic following eight years of low-key engagement where Asians griped about missed meetings and America’s strategic attention was focused almost exclusively in the Middle East. But most importantly, there is a well-thought out strategy for re-engagement—a strategy based on renewing long-time allies, engaging seriously newly emerging powers with an eye on preserving stability in the Pacific, while building stronger economic ties to boost American trade, job creation, and long-term economic prosperity at home. Read more on Obama's Asia strategy at American Progress
