Da NANG, November 10. /TASS/. The main intrigue of the first day held in Vietnam for the APEC summit was the situation around a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and USA Vladimir Putin and Donald trump. In the end the leaders greeted each other with a handshake and exchanged a few words.
The rest of the summit was usual for events of this magnitude line – participants of the forum worked in a multilateral format and held bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
Business Council and a meeting with ASEAN
The APEC leaders began their working day with a meeting with members of the Business Advisory Council. The meeting was addressed by the President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang to set down the goals and tasks of the Vietnamese presidency in APEC. Then the head of the Board reported on the main results of the work of this body for 2017.
The meeting was attended by Putin, Chinese President XI Jinping and other leaders of the APEC economies. Journalists drew attention to the fact that the Presidium, where summit participants, there was no trump.
There was not the head of the us administration and the next event – the APEC leaders meeting with invited heads of delegations of ASEAN member States. The ASEAN was represented by the leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the prospects of cooperation between ASEAN and APEC in the economy, trade, and investment. In other events the first day of the APEC summit trump participated.
As reported later to journalists, the head of VTB, member of the Business Advisory Council for APEC Andrey Kostin, trump at one of the meetings at the summit quite sharply and spoke negatively about the situation that has developed in U.S. trade with countries in the region. “From the outcome documents of the summit will be much taken precisely at the insistence of the United States,” – said Kostin. “The main intrigue of APEC that tensions escalated much stronger than before”, – he added.
The intrigue of the day
However, this intrigue is the only one on this summit. Journalists interested in holding announced earlier possible official meeting of the presidents of Russia and the United States. On Friday morning, Bloomberg, citing the press Secretary of the American leader Sarah Sanders that the meeting will not take place. The cause was identified a tight schedule in the White house.
Later, the press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian side continues to “work patiently” on the organization of the meeting, and stated that the meeting on the sidelines of the summit one way or another will take place.
The Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov has advised to ask for information about the meeting of leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States to the American side. “We have heard the desire of the US President, trump to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin made himself the tramp. What say the rest of his bureaucrats, I don’t know, ask them,” he said in the TV channel “Russia 24”.
A handshake and a couple of phrases
As a result, Russian and American leaders met this opportunity came during the ceremony of photographing of the participants. According to the tradition of APEC summits, photographing leaders and their spouse was in the national dress of the host meeting countries.
The Russian President came to the ceremony a little earlier and together with the other leaders took place on a special podium. One of the last trump, which is located at the right hand of the Russian President. They greeted each other with a handshake, and trump has friendly put a hand on his shoulder Putin, and exchanged a few words.
Allowing the photographers to take some pictures, the APEC economic leaders went into the next room at the gala evening on behalf of the host of the summit, the President of Vietnam. Here Putin and trump at the table was not there, so to continue the dialogue, they could not.
Invitation to Vietnam
Traditionally, in addition to the activities directly of the APEC summit, the Russian leader held on the sidelines of the summit several bilateral meetings. One of them – with Chan Dan Kuang. The Vietnamese leader invited his Russian counterpart to visit Vietnam for a visit.
“We understand that you are busy with very important things, including preparing for elections, which will be next year. But you came to us, and we appreciate it. We appreciate your participation in the summit, confident that it will make a major contribution to the results,” said Dan Tran Quang, opening the meeting with Putin. The Vietnamese President also thanked the Russian leader for humanitarian assistance.
“I want to congratulate with the fact that you managed to do it,” – said the Russian leader.
He called the fight against terrorism is one of the common tasks of Russia and the Philippines. “In this regard is ready, as agreed, to develop our relations, including in the military sphere, military-technical field, well, and, of course, the special attention we need to give economic relations”, – Putin said.
The President noted that economic ties between Russia and the Philippines are low, although there is a trend towards growth in recent years.
The priority is the cooperation with China
At a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit with XI Jinping, the President of Russia stressed that the efforts of the two leaders on strengthening cooperation “not in vain”. “The growth of trade turnover was more than 35%. It can not but rejoice. You mentioned some large projects in various fields. Going over them to work hard,” – said Putin. “We look for new areas of cooperation. I’m sure they will be found and implemented,” he added.
The President also congratulated XI Jinping on his reelection as General Secretary of the CCP at the October party Congress. “The results of the Congress have reaffirmed not just your high authority, but also wide support for the Chinese people of your course,” – said Putin. He stressed that the priority of Russian foreign policy remains a strategic comprehensive cooperation with China.
The Chinese leader thanked Putin for the congratulations. He also drew attention to the successful implementation of several joint projects, including in the gas industry and the aircraft industry, and success in pairing Chinese initiative “belt and road” with the EEU. XI Jinping expressed willingness to further develop relations with Russia.
Meeting with Abe
In a friendly atmosphere was held the meeting of Putin with Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. The Russian leader congratulated him on his party’s victory in the elections. “I hope that this will allow us to implement all our plans”, – Putin said, opening the meeting.
“In General our relations are developing, are steadily developing and that makes me very happy. Intensified political dialogue and develop economic ties. But, of course, there are always issues that require further discussion. I am very glad to meet you today and talk”, – said the head of the Russian state.
Abe thanked the President for congratulations. “About international issues I am prepared to have an exchange of views about our joint efforts for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” – said the Japanese Prime Minister.
The Russian President invited the Prime Minister of Japan at the SPIEF. “We are waiting for you at the St. Petersburg international forum, the opening ceremony of the cross years of Russia and Japan”, – said Putin. In turn, Abe said that preparations for the cross-year of Russia and Japan is very active. “I wish the next year was a good year for promoting understanding between the peoples of our countries”, – he stressed.
