The Group of Eight foreign ministers will incorporate in their joint statement to be issued here later this week the need for Russia and the United States to quickly enforce the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) II and conclude START III, a G8 official said Tuesday.

But the eight nations have decided against including a Russian-proposed expression of concern over the U.S. plan to build a national missile defense system, the official said.

The G8 ministers are to issue the joint statement at the end of their two-day meeting, which starts here today.

The official said the Russian side, which has criticized the NMD as "aggravating the arms race," called for the inclusion of an expression of concern in the statement during the preparatory process for the Miyazaki meeting, but the other G8 nations opposed.