US, Chile discuss co-hosting shelved APEC summit in January – diplomats

The governments of the United States and Chile are discussing co-hosting an APEC summit in the US in January, after Chile dropped plans to stage the event in Santiago this month, Reuters has reported, citing a senior US official.

The official said on Thursday that discussions were underway about Washington and Santiago working together to reschedule this year’s summit at an unspecified US venue, but that no decision had been made.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said earlier in the day that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him that the US was thinking of hosting the annual summit of Asia-Pacific nations in January, and that Malaysia did not support the idea.

Last week, Chile backed out of hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which had been scheduled for November 16-17, because of violent street protests. Malaysia is set to host the next APEC summit, scheduled for end-2020.