A major blow has been dealt to the chances of APEC dealing constructively with the crisis in East Timor with an
announcement this afternoon that Indonesian President B.J. Habibe will not be attending the APEC summit in Auckland this
weekend.
He had been expected to arrive on Saturday.
The US Secretary of State and British Foreign Secretary are both in New Zealand and are expected to attend a meeting
tomorrow with fellow foreign ministers to discuss the crisis.
ASEAN member nations are not expected to be at the meeting and are reportedly shy of discussing the issue.
Following a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, NZ Foreign Minister Don McKinnon this afternoon
played down the likely outcome of tomorrow's meeting.
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