The Philippine Online Chronicles

US President Barack Obama will attend for the first time the 18-nation East Asia Summit to be held in Bali, Indonesia later this year, according to the State Department.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in Indonesia later this month partly to prepare for Obama’s participation in the EAS in November, State Department spokersperson Victoria Nuland said.

A Bali official confirmed in a Jakarta Globe report that Obama was participating in the regional strategic dialogue, saying US Ambassador Scot Marciel had notified the regional authorities of the visit.

"On Wednesday afternoon, the Bali governor met with the US ambassador. He was informed that President Obama would visit Bali this November to attend the East Asia Summit," Bali provincial government spokesman Ketut Teneng said.

Indonesia is hosting the regional dialogue in its capacity as chair of Asean, the 10-nation grouping which forms the core of the broader EAS.

Obama did not attend the EAS leaders’ meeting in Hanoi last year, sending Clinton as his representative.

A report said Obama’s attendance of EAS this year will be his second official visit to Indonesia, where he spend part of his childhood in the late 1960s. Obama’s first official trip to the Muslim archipelago was in November last year, wherein he lauded the country’s evolution into a democracy.

Indonesian officials are hoping Obama’s visit will dispel fears of terror attacks and give local tourism a boost. In 2002 and 2005, the Indonesian island of Bali was hit by deadly terror bombings targeting Western tourists.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is also expected to attend the Bali summit, which closely follows meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Group of 20 (G20).

During the EAS last year, Clinton said the US’s “overarching” goal for the EAS is to “help strengthen and build this organization as a key forum for political and strategic issues in the Asia-Pacific.”