Hatoyama seeks meeting with Obama at Nuclear Security Summit

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TOKYO, March 12 Kyodo -
Japan and the United States began making arrangements Friday for a possible
meeting between Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and President Barack Obama on the
sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington next month, government
officials said.
If realized, the two leaders will inevitably focus on where to relocate the
U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, the most pressing
issue for the two allies today.
Hatoyama said Friday that no bilateral meeting at the summit, to be held April
12 to 13 in Washington, has been fixed yet, telling reporters, ''I can predict
and have heard that President Obama will be very busy because many leaders will
be coming over.''
Earlier in the day, the prime minister told visiting U.S. Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano that he wants to attend the security summit, noting
that he has received an invitation from Obama. ''I want to take time out from
the Diet session to come over,'' he said.
A senior lawmaker in the government said Hatoyama will visit Washington because
Obama has invited him, but that their summit is ''still being arranged.''
The upcoming security summit will be hosted by Obama, who received the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2009 for his pledge to seek a nuclear-free world.
Participants from around 40 countries, including Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, are expected to discuss measures to prevent nuclear terrorism,
including a proposal to establish a regime within four years to secure
vulnerable nuclear materials.
During a roughly 20-minute talk at his office in Tokyo, Hatoyama stressed the
importance of the Japan-U.S. security alliance, telling Napolitano, ''We must
deepen it further'' as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the bilateral
security treaty's revision.
The two agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on combating international
terrorism, including taking measures to ensure aviation security, the Foreign
Ministry said.
==Kyodo