Japan and the U.N. nuclear watchdog will host a meeting of Asian countries Thursday and Friday to discuss ways to address nuclear terrorism, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro Fukuyama said.

The Tokyo meeting, to be attended by government officials from 17 Asian countries as well as nuclear security experts from the United States and Australia, comes ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April.

Countries to participate in the Tokyo meeting are the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to Fukuyama.

Under the heading of nuclear security are protecting nuclear and other radioactive materials from theft and diversion, protecting nuclear installations and transport against sabotage and other malicious acts, and combating illicit trafficking in such materials, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.