Japanese city of Hiroshima said it and Nagasaki, the only cities that suffered nuclear attacks, are considering a joint bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, to give momentum to moves to abolish nuclear weapons.
The agreement came after Tokyyo failed in its bid for the 2016 Olympics and the surprise award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US president Barack Obama for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament.
"Mayors for Peace, which has 3,000 cities as its members worldwide, aims to abolish nuclear arms by 2020," Koji Utsunomiya, a Hiroshima City official in charge of sporting activities, told Reuters.
"It would be great if we could host the Olympic Games, the festival of peace, in that year of 2020."
Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue are set to hold a news conference at 0430 GMT on Sunday in Hiroshima.
