Hiroshima and Nagasaki have decided to set up a joint committee that will try to bring the 2020 Summer Olympics to the atomic-bombed cities, their mayors said Oct. 11.

The announcement by Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima and Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki came after Akiba expressed hope at an international peace meeting in Mexico City in September to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020, and to stage the Olympics in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that year to celebrate a nuclear-free world.

"The Olympics symbolize the abolition of nuclear arms and world peace, and we want to work to realize our plan to host them," Akiba said at a newsconference.

If the two cities are to formalize a joint bid, they must first discuss the matter with the Japanese Olympic Committee. But the committee has so far been reluctant to endorse the plan, apparently because it doesn't want to "politicize" the games.