Article originally published by Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, China, Britain and France – the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – to discuss arms control, a senior administration official said on Friday. 

Trump wants to use the meeting to try to make progress on a three-way arms control deal with Russia and China, the official said. The timing for a summit was unclear.

“The United States will use this opportunity to bring both Russia and China into the international arms control framework and head off a costly arms race,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the idea of a summit of what is known as the P5 to discuss a variety of global issues. Neither Russia nor China are members of the Group of Seven nations that will hold their annual summit in Camp David, Maryland, this year.

The official would not speculate on where a P5 summit would be held, but one logical option could be the U.N. General Assembly, where world leaders gather annually in September.

“The president has made clear that he is ready to meet with any world leader at any time to advance U.S. national security interests. The United States will work with the other P5 countries to develop and organize such a meeting,” the official said.

* * * * *