20 heads of state confirm APEC Manila attendance

MANILA, Philippines — Russian President Vladimir Putin and 19 other leaders have confirmed their attendance at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said on Wednesday.

Washington earlier confirmed that United States President Barack Obama will attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Manila from November 18 to 19.

READ: World leaders' full attendance in APEC Manila expected

Almendras said in an interview with ANC's Headstart that Obama may stay "a bit longer that originally anticipated."

"President Putin is coming, all have confirmed basically except... we're still waiting for a confirmation from China. Everyone else is more or less confirmed already," Almendras said.

APEC currently has 21 members:

• Australia
• Brunei Darussalam
• Canada
• Chile
• People's Republic of China
• Hong Kong, China
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Republic of Korea
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Peru
• Philippines
• Russia
• Singapore
• Chinese Taipei
• Thailand
• United States
• Vietnam

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National of Police have laid down massive preparations for the APEC Summit.

AFP spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla assured that there is no security threat to the security of the APEC.

"It’s safe to say that we have 21 heads of economies coming in so it’s 21 times more security preparations," Joint Task Force National Capital Region  deputy commander Col. Vic Tomas said.

RELATED: AFP, PNP: No security threat at APEC