U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday held a series of bilateral meetings at the Washington Convention Center, where the Nuclear Security Summit is being hosted.

Obama successively met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Prime Minister Mohamed Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia, President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia and Chinese President Hu Jintao before giving a welcoming ceremony to all participating leaders and a kickoff working dinner of the summit.

Obama met on Sunday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan. He also paid a courtesy call to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

Obama is hosting leaders from 46 countries for a two-day nuclear security summit that is focusing on how to better safeguard weapons materials, both old and new, to keep them out of the hands of terrorists.