US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Saturday with Yoshinori Ohno, Japan's minister of state for defense, on the sidelines of an international conference here devoted to Asian security issues.

The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the two reconfirmed that they hope to have an interim report ready within eight weeks that would include a discussion of roles, missions and capabilities of US forces in Japan.

He said the interim report could cite some specific bases that will be affected by the realignment of US forces in Japan. A final report would be concluded by no later than December, the official said.

"I think this meeting allowed us to ... reconfirm at (the secretary of defense) level with Minister Ohno on that timeline and that we were going to do everything we could to meet the markers on that timeline," he said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.