Trump had likewise skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit last year in Bangkok.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Photo: IANS)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said that President Donald Trump has invited Southeast Asian leaders to meet next month in Las Vegas.
During a press briefing, Pompeo confirmed the date whether fears over the coronavirus outbreak would delay the summit with members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The ASEAN summit is still, we’re working our way through it for … the second weekend in March in Las Vegas,” Pompeo further added.
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The United States began sounding out Southeast Asian leaders about visiting after Chile canceled a Pacific Rim summit scheduled for November in the wake of major demonstrations.
Trump had likewise skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit last year in Bangkok.
He instead sent his national security advisor, Robert O’Brien, in the lowest-level participation ever by the United States in the East Asia Summit.
Last week, Pompeo said that the US and Taliban are expected to sign an agreement on February 29.
According to reports, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the deal saying it would be “a critical test of the Taliban’s willingness and ability to reduce violence and contribute to peace in good faith.”
Last year, President Trump called an abrupt halt to the process after an American was killed in a Taliban attack in Kabul.
The draft agreement ensured that over 5,000 US troops will withdraw from five American bases in the first 135 days after the signing of the deal.
Since the end of the NATO combat mission in January 2015, the US maintains one contingent within the framework of the new allied mission of advising Afghan troops and another for “anti-terrorist” operations.
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