North Korea, Afghanistan at centre of G8 foreign minister talks

Kyoto, Japan  - Terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation were set to dominate the first day of a meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) foreign ministers starting Thursday in the Japanese city Kyoto.

The latest developments in the six-nation nuclear talks with North Korea were likely to overshadow efforts by the foreign ministers of seven of the world's largest economies and Russia to boost aid for Afghanistan.

North Korea was expected Thursday to hand China a long-overdue, complete rundown of its nuclear programmes and stockpiles as one of the steps in international efforts to make the country give up its nuclear programmes.

In their two-day discussions, the G8 ministers were to assess the latest progress in efforts by nuclear negotiators from China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Russia to stop North Korea's nuclear arms ambitions.

Pyongyang is to be rewarded with economic and energy aid as well as its removal from the US terrorism blacklist.

US President George W Bush reassured Japan Wednesday on US support for a resolution of the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s, a prerequisite for Tokyo to normalize ties with the hermit country.

Afghanistan was also high on the agenda, in particular efforts to step up aid commitments with projects worth 2 billion to 3 billion dollars and to strengthen border security in the fight against Taliban militants.

A joint statement from G8 host Japan and the seven other members - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Russia - was expected to emphasize the importance of the issue.

The foreign ministers are meeting ahead of the G8 summit July 7-9 on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Japan, which holds this year's G8 presidency, put climate change and development issues on top of the summit's agenda.

Iran's nuclear programme, the peace process in the Middle East and recent developments in Zimbabwe, Sudan and Myanmar are also to be discussed in the foreign ministers' two days of meetings, first in bilateral talks and later among all the G8 envoys, officials said. (dpa)

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