Reagan Seeks Exchanges With Soviets : Cultural Pact May Be Signed; Enduring Dialogue Sought

President Reagan said Thursday night that he will go to next week’s Geneva summit on a mission of peace and will propose “the broadest people-to-people exchanges in the history of American-Soviet relations.”

But the President, in a television address from the Oval Office, held out little hope for progress on the overriding issue of arms control and played down the importance of any “short-term agreements” that may be signed at the two-day summit, which begins Tuesday.

Reagan, who leaves Saturday for Geneva, said he intends to engage Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in “what I hope will be a dialogue for peace that endures beyond my presidency.”

Although the President recently said the meeting might produce a signal to spur the Geneva arms negotiators toward an agreement, there was no mention of that or any other sign of optimism on arms control in his final speech before leaving for the summit.

Gorbachev has made arms control his highest priority on the summit agenda but has said no progress in that area is possible as long as Reagan pursues his Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as “Star Wars,” to develop a space-based defense system against nuclear missiles.

For his part, Reagan has repeatedly insisted that he will not abandon the program, although he referred to it only once--and then by inference--in his speech.

Reagan said he has no higher priority than finally to “realize the dream” of ending “the dangerous competition in nuclear arms” and said he is pleased that the Soviets have expressed interest in reducing offensive weapons by 50%. That proposal produced an American counteroffer of reducing comparable nuclear systems by 50%, but it included conditions that the Soviets have rejected.

“If we both reduce the weapons of war, there would be no losers, only winners,” Reagan declared. “And the whole world would benefit if we could both abandon these weapons altogether and move to non-nuclear defensive systems that threaten no one.”

People-to-People Contacts

But the President offered nothing new on arms control and devoted much of his speech to his ambitious plans for expanding people-to-people contacts--indicating, perhaps, that the most substantive agreement expected from the summit may be in that area.

The United States and the Soviet Union reportedly already have completed a cultural exchange agreement to be signed at the summit. It would be the first cultural accord since 1979, when the United States suspended exchanges because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

“We are proposing the broadest people-to-people exchanges in the history of American-Soviet relations,” Reagan said, “exchanges in sports and culture, in the media, education and the arts. Such exchanges can build in our societies thousands of coalitions for cooperation and peace.”

He declared: “Imagine if people in our nation could see the Bolshoi Ballet again, while Soviet citizens could see American plays and hear groups like the Beach Boys. And how about Soviet children watching Sesame Street?”

Will Urge More Exchanges

Reagan said he will propose to Gorbachev that the two nations exchange many citizens from fraternal, religious, educational and cultural groups and will suggest the exchange each year of thousands of college undergraduates and even younger students who would live with host families and attend schools or summer camps.

He also suggested that the two nations compete in sports, launch joint space ventures and establish joint medical research projects. And he said that he will encourage more appearances in each other’s mass media by representatives of both countries.

Reagan talked earnestly of the need to resolve differences and minimize distrust and suspicions between the two superpowers and said that the summit could be “an historic opportunity to set a steady, more constructive course to the 21st Century.”

At the same time, he cautioned that the history of U.S-Soviet relations “does not augur well for euphoria” and pointed out that since World War II, none of his predecessors had fully succeeded in their efforts to achieve a more stable and peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union.

A ‘Safer, Better World’

“But these sad chapters do not relieve me of the obligation to try to make this a safer, better world,” he said. “For our children, our grandchildren, for all mankind, I intend to make the effort. And with your prayers, and God’s help, I hope to succeed.”

Echoing earlier comments by Administration officials who have discouraged speculation that the summit might produce any breakthroughs, Reagan said success in Geneva should not be measured by any short-term agreements that may be signed.

“Only the passage of time will tell us whether we constructed a durable bridge to a safer world,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, Secretary of State George P. Shultz declared there was no prospect of an agreement with the Soviets at the summit on halting the spread of chemical weapons, although he expressed the hope that “some progress can be made” on the issue.

The New York Times reported that such a pact was nearing completion and that it likely would be announced in Geneva next week. Moscow has agreed to the accord and Washington has agreed to it in principle, but the Pentagon is resisting final approval for the pact, Reagan Administration officials told the newspaper.

‘No Deal in Prospect’

When asked about the report in an interview on the U.S. Information Agency’s Euronet broadcast, Shultz replied: “There is no such deal in prospect.”

Both nations have been negotiating in Geneva on destroying existing stockpiles of chemical weapons and halting their further production--as opposed to preventing their spread to other countries.

Reagan indicated that he would press Gorbachev on the issue of human rights and Soviet expansionism. He said true peace “rests on the pillars of individual freedom, human rights, national self-determination and the rule of law.”