President Obama was looking forward to returning to his boyhood country of Indonesia for the 2013 APEC Summit. He moved there when he was just seven years old and lived there for four years.
While in Indonesia, he attended school, made many friends, and enjoyed the local cuisine. President Obama is publicly adored by many there.
Sadly, the President had to skip the APEC Summit for a second year in a row. His absence this time was due to the U.S. Government shutdown. Luckily, Secretary of State John Kerry just happened
to be in the area already, so he was able to attend instead.
Everyone knows that without the traditional costumes, the annual APEC Summit would be widely ignored by the world press. While it was hard to top the APEC costumes from Hawaii in 2011 and Vladivostok in 2012, the White House cheers the bold choice made this year by the Indonesian APEC costume selection committee.
Congratulations on your presidential campaign victory and welcome to this year's APEC Summit. We look forward to working with you very, very closely.
The APEC Indonesia 2013 Host Committee held a contest for
Indonesian citizens to come up with a suitable logo for the 2013 APEC Summit. President Obama, handy with Photoshop, inquired if he would be able to
enter the contest since he lived there as a boy. His request was approved and he submitted his entry.
The President was thrilled to find out that his logo was chosen by the official APEC Bali logo selection committee as a top-five finalist. In an unusual move however, Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected all five logos opting instead for a plain purply one with a bunch of squiggly lines drawn
by his young nephew Bintang.
President Obama sent the Indonesian President a brief note thanking him for letting him participate in the logo contest and congratulating young Bintang on his winning purple
squiggly design.
Our disappointed President was planning to meet with President SBY one-on-one during APEC to discuss how this would affect our close bilateral ties and signal the end of our three-year Comprehensive Partnership.
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"God willing, the retreat venue and its other supporting facilities can be finished on time."
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The 2013 Economic Leaders' Week is scheduled for October 1-8 in Bali, Indonesia. The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held October 7 - 8 in Nusa Dua, Bali. The APEC CEO Summit 2013 will be held October 5 - 7.
The Government of Indonesia had originally planned to build a state-of-the-art convention and exhibition center, luxurious villas for Leaders, and five-star hotels for the delegates at the new high security Bali International
Park. This ambitious project was cancelled after massive environmental protests. The 2013 Leaders Week activities will be held instead at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center,
the Westin Resort’s Bali International Convention Center (BICC), and the Sofitel Hotel
APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Bali, 1-8 October 2013:
Concluding SOM (CSOM), 1-2 October 2013
APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM), 4-5 October 2013
APEC CEO Summit, 5-7 October 2013
ABAC Dialogue with Leaders, 7 October 2013
APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting,
7-8 October 2013
There are 21 APEC member economies: Australia: Prime Minister Tony Abbott; Brunei: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah; Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Chile: President Sebastián Piñera; China: President Xi Jinping; Hong Kong: Chief Executive CY Leung; Indonesia: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Malaysia: Prime Minister Najib Razak; Mexico: President Enrique Pena Nieto; New Zealand: Prime Minister John Key; Papua New Guinea: Prime Minister Peter O'Neill; Peru: President Ollanta Humala; Philippines: President Benigno Aquino III; Russia: President Vladimir Putin; Singapore: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; South Korea: President Park Geun-hye; Thailand: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra; Taiwan: Former Vice President Vincent Siew; Vietnam: President Truong Tan Sang; and the United States: Secretary of State John Kerry.