U.S. President Donald Trump will be joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's virtual summit meeting on Friday, host Malaysia said Thursday.

Hairil Yahri Yaacob, a senior official of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, told reporters after chairing a meeting of APEC senior officials that his U.S. counterpart Sandra Oudkirk "confirmed verbally" that Trump will join the meeting.

But unlike the case with other APEC leaders, there has been no written confirmation to that effect, he added.