Obama to meet European leaders in Prague next week

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with 11 leaders from eastern and central Europe in Prague next week when he is scheduled to sign a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia there, White House confirmed Friday.

The meeting will happen when Obama is scheduled to sign the landmark nuclear arms treaty on April 8 with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in the Czech capital of Prague, said the White House.

The new treaty will reduce the number of nuclear warheads of Russia and U.S. by about 30 percent to 1,550 each, and replace the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) that expired on Dec. 5, 2009.