Posted at 9:55 a.m., Tuesday, May 01, 2001

Bush skipping Asian Development Bank meeting

Advertiser Staff

President George W. Bush will not attend the Asian Development Bank meeting in Hawai'i next week, White House sources suggested today.

No official annoucement has been made about Bush's plans regarding ADB and the White House said today it did not know when there would be a statement.

The meeting is scheduled for May 7-11 at the Hawai'i Convention Center. It had been expected that Bush would not attend, in part because of his schedule and in part because other heads of state will not be at the meeting.

Bush is scheduled to spend next weekend at Camp David, returning May 6 to Washington in time to play host to a T-ball game for youngsters on the South Lawn of the White House.

Observers also say it would be unusual for the president to attend a meeting when other heads of state are not present. The bank meeting is expected to draw about 60 finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific region.