DHAKA: US president Barack Obama is in Brussels for talks with leaders of the European Union and Nato to discuss Ukraine and other transatlantic issues.

In a major speech, he is due to stress the importance of European security to the US, and warn Russia against threatening international stability.

He will also lay a wreath at a cemetery in Flanders, where US soldiers who were killed in World War One are buried.

It is Obama’s first official trip to the EU’s headquarters in Belgium.

He flew in on Tuesday evening from the Dutch city of The Hague where he attended a summit on nuclear security with other world leaders.

The US president will stay in Brussels for less than 24 hours before travelling to Rome for a meeting with Pope Francis.

Security is high in the Belgian capital, with police cordoning off areas near the EU headquarters and Obama’s hotel, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1715 HRS, MAR 26, 2014