Obama trip to Asia light on tourism for a presidential jaunt

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet one-on-one with U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila, the White House said Thursday.

“But I don’t think anybody expects a single outcome that all of a sudden readily resolves all of these hard issues”, Rice said.

President Barack Obama speaks during the annual National Veterans Day commemoration, Wednesday, November 11, 2015, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. “We strongly believe that on a bipartisan basis, we should get this done”, Obama told reporters after meeting with a group of senior diplomats and defense experts.

The leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies will gather in Turkey as the neighboring Syrian crisis is well into its fifth year.

Efforts by the U.S. and European countries to punish Russian Federation with economic sanctions have done little to change Putin’s approach in Ukraine.

“During the course of our visit to Asia, the President will hold a number of bilateral meetings with key allies and partners, including the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia”, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice said.

Obama departs on Saturday for a trip to Turkey, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Earnest said the meeting will focus on the Pacific Rim trade deal and setting the “rules of the road” on trade in Asia. European leaders have struggled to develop a coordinated response, with a few countries building fences, reintroducing border controls and fighting among themselves about the relative burden each host nation should bear.

“When more than 95% of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy”, Obama said in a statement.