plus 3 and asean plus 6. the asean plus 3 group includes japan, china, south korea, and the ten-member association of southeastern nations. the asean plus 6 group adds australia, india and new zealand to the 13 countries. the transpacific partnership originated in a free trade agreement among brunei, chile, new zealand and singapore. negotiations are under way to expand it with another five apec members, including the united states and australia. >>> ahead of the apec summit scheduled for this weekend, we have been looking at japan/u.s. relations here on "newsline." our series wraps up today with a story about nuclear cooperation between the two allies. u.s. president obama is calling for tightened global nuclear security. japan as the only country where nuclear bombs have been dropped strongly supports his initiative. president obama hosted a nuclear security summit last april in washington. obama has said his long-term goal is to create a world without nuclear weapons but he recognizes nuclear terrorism as

plus 3, asean plus 6. the asean plus 3 group includes japan, china, south korea, and the ten-member association of southeast asian nations. the asean plus 6 group adds india and new zealand to the countries. the partnership originated in a free trade agreement among brunei, chile, new zealand and singapore. negotiations are under way to expand it with another five apec members, including the united states and australia. the japanese government will hold talks with countries involved in a transpacific free trade pact. a senior official of japan's ruling democratic party says rice may be excluded from the negotiations. the party's policy chief, who is also national policy minister, made the announcement during a symposium in tokyo on thursday. >> translator: the underlying idea is to prioritize bilateral economic partnerships while showing a willingness to discuss the tpp. i still think it is the best decision. rice could be excluded from the tpp talks even if japan goes ahead with the multi-lateral economic