Hundreds of former leaders, ex-ministers, experts and US actor Michael Douglas took part in a meeting in Paris of the "Global Zero" campaign launched last year to press for the gradual elimination of the world's nuclear arsenals.

"A world without nuclear weapons. As president, this is one of my highest priorities," Obama said in the message to the gathering.

Recalling his commitment toward disarmament outlined in a key speech in Prague last year, Obama noted that United States and Russia were completing negotiations on a new START nuclear reduction treaty.

US and Russian negotiators began their latest round of talks on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on Monday in Geneva.

"When people of passion and goodwill refuse to accept the world as it is, when we see the world as it might become, then great change is inevitable," said Obama.

In his message, Medvedev told the gathering that "our common task consists in undertaking everything to make deadly weapons of mass destruction a thing of the past."

The Russian president said the START negotiations could yield a "meaningful and viable document that will give an additional impetus to the disarmament process."

Delegates at the Global Zero conference were to agree on a series of recommendations to achieve a nuclear-free world at the end of their gathering on Thursday.

earlier related report
Gorbachev gives Obama thumbs-up
Faraya, Lebanon (AFP) Feb 2, 2010 - Despite slipping in US opinion polls a year after his election, US President Barack Obama still has the firm support of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

At a news conference in Lebanon on Tuesday, Gorbachev had kind words for fellow Nobel laureate Obama, as the United States relaunched talks with Russia on a nuclear disarmament treaty.

"The election of Obama was not an accident," Gorbachev said from the ski town of Faraya, northeast of the capital, where he was invited to give a lecture later on Tuesday.

"It is true however that there has been some slippage in support for him," Gorbachev said.

A number of opinion polls in January showed Americans sharply divided on Obama's first year in office.

While he said that he liked Obama "a great deal," Gorbachev acknowledged the difficulties facing the US president as he attempts to change his country's policies.

"US policy is changing, but it's a difficult process," he said.

Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader before its breakup in 1991, said the United States had missed "many opportunities" but seemed to be back on track under Obama.

The 79-year-old expressed firm support for the renewal of US-Russian talks on nuclear arms control.

"I am very pleased that now Obama has changed course and has gone back to dialogue and the process of nuclear arms control," said Gorbachev, speaking through an interpreter.

Russia and the United States on Monday resumed marathon talks in Geneva to renew a key nuclear disarmament treaty which expired in December.

Discussions had largely stalled under George W. Bush's presidency but Russian and US delegations have been meeting regularly since last May to conclude a a new agreement to replace the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired on December 5.

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