Japan will host a series of meetings of international experts to promote nonproliferation and the reduction of nuclear arms, government sources said Thursday.

The announcement follows India and Pakistan's staging of separate nuclear tests in May.

The first meeting, to be held Aug. 30-31 in Tokyo, will be cochaired by Yasushi Akashi, head of the Hiroshima Peace Institute and former U.N. undersecretary general, and Nobuo Matsunaga, head of the Japan Institute of International Affairs.

At least 10 nuclear experts from the five declared nuclear powers as well as others from South Korea, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Egypt are expected to attend the first meeting, at which Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will make an address, the sources said.

The five declared nuclear powers are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of state, and Robert O'Neill, former director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Britain, will be among the participants.

The government is also considering sending invitations to delegates from India and Pakistan, Foreign Ministry sources said.

Its planned for the experts to meet every three months and draft measures for promoting and strengthening nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, the government sources said, adding that a final list of measures will be adopted at the last meeting in Tokyo next summer.

The second and third meetings will be held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the sources added.