Widodo to skip APEC summit:

Indonesian President Joko Widodo will not attend an annual summit of AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum members in the Philippines because of domestic issues, a Philippine foreign ministry official said on Thursday.

Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and has in recent months been the source of smoke from land-clearing fires that has blanketed much of the region.

An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman in Jakarta confirmed that Widodo would not be attending the Nov 18-19 summit in Manila but did not elaborate on the domestic issues keeping him at home.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla would be going instead, the Indonesian spokesman said.

Widodo cut short his first official trip to the United States last month to oversee his government’s efforts to combat the fires that have caused school closures, flight cancellations and pollution levels to spike. (RTRS)