By Yuri Kageyama (CP) – TOKYO — 9 November 2010 - President Barack Obama has declined an invitation to a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize winners on nuclear weapons that is taking place later this week in Hiroshima, when he will be in the country to attend a summit of Asian leaders.

Hiroshima’s governor received a letter dated Oct. 26, from Kurt Campbell, the U.S. State Department’s top Asia policy official, saying Obama won’t be attending, city and prefectural officials said Monday.

"It is with regret that President Obama will not be able to attend," Campbell said in the letter to Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki that arrived Thursday. "Your overwhelming resolution to lead the world toward a nuclear weapons free world advances President Obama’s vision to make the world a safer place."