Abe, Obama eye face-to-face summit in G20

TOKYO - Japan and the United States plan to arrange a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama on the fringes of the summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) to be held in Russia early next month, according to local media.

The two leaders are expected to confirm the agenda to beef up the bilateral security alliance in the summit which would take place on September 5, Japan's Kyodo News reported, citing government officials as saying.

In the talks, Abe and Obama are expected to acknowledge the importance of dialogue in mending Japan-China ties that soured over territorial disputes, said Kyodo.

Other regional issues such as nuclear weapons by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks and the relocation of the US Futenma air station in Japan' s Okinawa will also be involved in the summit, according to Kyodo.

If the meeting will be realized, it will be the second for the two leaders, following their first meeting in Washington in February.

The report, however, added that it remains unclear that Abe and Obama could find time to sit down for a one-on-one meeting in Russia due to their busy agendas.

Abe and Obama also met with each other briefly on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of Eight in Northern Ireland in June.