Separate area popular for receiving international leaders (8)
I believe the answer is:
distinct
'separate' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'area popular for receiving international leaders' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'popular' could be 'in' ('in' can mean trendy) and 'in' is located in the answer.
'international' could be 'i' (abbreviation eg in IMF) and 'i' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
(Other definitions for distinct that I've seen before include "Plain" , "Easy to perceive" , "Separate and clear-cut" , "Definite or different in kind" , "Individual, separate" .)