PM to attend Obama's N-summit in April

Leaders from as many as 43 countries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are scheduled to attend a nuclear summit convened by US President Barack Obama in April, the White House said today.

"The (US) President has outlined a plan to get all loose nuclear material contained over a four-year period of time, and in April will host 43 nations in a nuclear security summit in order to make sure that those promises are made real," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

The Nuclear Security Summit, slated to be held on April 12-13, is of immense interest to India considering apprehensions over safety of atomic arsenal in neighbouring Pakistan and proliferation originating from there.

A day earlier, National Security Advisor Gen (rtd.) James Jones said at a Washington think-tank that the nuclear summit is being hosted to rally other nations to help secure the world's loose nuclear materials within four years.

"We have secured new, stronger sanctions against North Korea. And in the context of the six-party talks, we sent Ambassador Bosworth to Pyongyang last month for direct talks, which has not happened in a long time," he said.