US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week.
Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter yesterday confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit.
"As he said himself, there is only one president at a time," she told reporters after Obama's first post-election news conference in Chicago.
Earlier the White House confirmed it did not expect Obama to take a seat at the talks on November 15.
"We are in communication and coordination with them. I don't know whether someone will actually be in the building. I don't expect in the room," spokesman Tony Fratto said of Obama's economic team.
But Fratto pledged close cooperation with the president-elect's economic advisers on the best way to respond to the global financial meltdown in order to avoid sending "confusing signals" to international markets.
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"We look forward to hearing their views on how to deal with these issues which are going to go on for some time," the spokesman said one week before outgoing US President George W Bush hosts the summit.
Obama is keen not to trample on the sitting president's authority. But his aides are also leery of becoming too closely associated with the outgoing administration's 700-billion-dollar banking bailout, which remains unpopular among many voters, sources said.