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Obama plans nuclear security summit in March

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-09 06:51

L'AQUILA, Italy : US President Barack Obama is planning to host a nuclear security summit in Washington next March.

Obama's deputy national security adviser, Mark Lippert, says Obama announced the summit during a dinner with leaders of the world's top industrial nations in Italy.

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Lippert says Obama believes nuclear terrorism is the most immediate threat to US security, and he wants to address issues like the breakup of black markets in nuclear materials and the detection and interception of materials in transit.

Lippert says Obama will send personal invitation letters to leaders of 25 to 30 nations when he returns to the United States next week.