West Backs Reforms in East Bloc : Summit Pledges Joint Action on Poland, Hungary

President Bush and the other leaders at the annual summit meeting of seven major industrial democracies agreed Saturday to take concerted action in support of economic reforms that have been launched in Poland and Hungary.

But apart from promising to funnel surplus food to Poland through the European Community, the summit leaders did not pledge any specific sum of financial aid to the two East European countries. Instead, they said officials of nations interested in supporting Poland and Hungary would hold a meeting within the next few weeks.

Meeting on the 35th floor of the stark, angular Arche de la Defense, an arch-shaped office building in a Paris suburb, the leaders declared: “We welcome the process of reform under way in Poland and Hungary. We recognize that the political changes taking place in these countries will be difficult to sustain without economic progress.”

Unexpected Proposal

Simultaneously, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose economic and political reforms in the Soviet Union have made possible the changes in Poland and Hungary, sent a letter to the leaders meeting in Paris in which he urged closer economic relations between the Soviet Union and the summit nations.

The summit leaders, in addition to their pledge of support for Poland and Hungary, took a variety of actions in the first of two working days in the 15th annual economic summit. They:

-- Issued a brief declaration condemning political repression in China and agreeing that the World Bank should postpone new loans to that country.

-- Spent an unusual amount of time discussing international environmental issues but came to few agreements on specific measures that the summit nations should take.

-- Planned measures to combat international drug trafficking.

‘Most Harmonious’ Summit

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who attended the previous eight summits as an official of the Ronald Reagan Administration, described the 1989 edition as “the most harmonious” of all.

So harmonious was it that the summit leaders decided to end their summit today after lunch, canceling a dinner that French President Francois Mitterrand had planned for them at the Elysee Palace.

Bush, who came directly here from a four-day visit to Poland and Hungary, urged the other summit leaders--from France, Britain, Italy, West Germany, Canada and Japan--to endorse the concerted approach to aiding the two countries’ reform movements.

During his East European visit, Bush announced a modest aid package for both countries, including aid of $100 million for Poland and $25 million for Hungary to help develop private enterprise. He said he would like to see other summit nations make similar contributions.

Although the summit nations’ “Declaration on East-West Relations” included no specific financial aid, Baker told reporters that Bush got what he wanted “in the form of a commitment for concerted support” and quick action in rescheduling Poland’s foreign debt. And some of the summit countries, Baker said, “are going to be making specific economic incentives available” to Poland and Hungary.

The summit leaders announced that the representatives of “all interested countries” will meet “in the next few weeks” to discuss specific forms of support for Poland and Hungary. “We underline, for Poland, the urgent need for food in present circumstances.”

West German officials said their chancellor, Helmut Kohl, had proposed that surplus food from Western countries be channeled to Poland through the Economic Community. Polish leader Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski had asked Mitterrand, as the summit’s host, for credits to buy food, but the summit nations rejected that approach because Poland is already deep in debt to the West.

Support for Poland Pushed

Baker said Bush was eager to follow up on support for reform in Poland and Hungary “as expeditiously” as possible, “and, in fact, had written the heads of state prior to coming to the summit requesting that this action be taken.”

The East-West declaration also:

-- Favors early conclusion of negotiations between Poland and the International Monetary Fund as part of Poland’s debt rescheduling strategy.

-- Applauds leaders in Eastern Europe who are working with reform movements to bring about greater political and economic freedom, but “strongly” condemns others who “are still endeavoring to resist this movement by taking repressive measures.”

-- Calls upon the Soviet government to “translate its new policies and pronouncements into further concrete action at home and abroad.”

In a day devoted to foreign policy, the summit nations also turned their attention to China. In a written declaration, they “condemned the violent repression in China in defiance of human rights” and urged authorities there “to cease action against those who have done no more than claim their legitimate rights to democracy and liberty.”

Bush’s Steps Supported

The steps endorsed at the summit reflect many of those taken by the Bush Administration. Many, including suspension of high-level contacts with Chinese authorities, have already been taken by the other six nations.

The declaration made a special reference to “the grave concern felt by the people of Hong Kong” after the massacre in Beijing last month of pro-democracy demonstrators.

The question of Hong Kong, now a crown colony of Britain, came up during a breakfast meeting between Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The British have agreed to turn the colony over to China on July 1, 1997.

Apart from that breakfast, held at the American ambassador’s residence, and an evening meeting at the Louvre, Bush spent most of the day in the meeting room at the Arche de la Defense.

On other matters, the summit partners commited themselves “to uphold international standards of human rights” and renewed their commitment to make “no concessions to terrorists or their sponsors.”

U.S. Dissatisfaction

While the issue of terrorism rarely divides the seven summit nations, the United States has been dissatisfied with what it views as West Germany’s less than ardent law enforcement measures against terrorists and France’s inclination to swap terrorists for French hostages.

The declaration on terrorism also said that the summit nations agreed to give priority to preventing such attacks as the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland last December, an act that caused 270 deaths.

The summit members devoted more time than in the past to environmental issues, which William K. Reilly, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said are “beginning to move from the margins to the mainstream of concern.” Reilly credited Bush for this, but growing environmental concerns have become increasingly important politically in the six other summit nations.

Reilly, the first EPA administrator to travel to an international economic summit conference, said there is an emerging consensus that “these issues are significant, are important, are worthy of concern at the very highest levels of government.”

However, the summit leaders, in the final communique they issue today, appeared unlikely to recommend specific action regarding such international environmental issues as deforestation, oceanic oil spills and chlorofluorocarbon emissions. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney hoped merely to gain support for an international summit conference on environmental matters.

Focus on Environment

A Canadian official said the summit leaders focused on the environment during their one-hour evening session at the I. M. Pei-designed pyramid that serves as the new entrance to the Louvre. “It’s clear that the world is moving to some kind of a law of the atmosphere,” the official said, suggesting as a precedent the international maritime laws.

American environmentalists who converged on Paris declared themselves unimpressed by the summit. “Rhetoric is terrific, discussions are great, but we feel it’s time for specific commitments,” said Rafe Pomerance of the World Resources Institute.

On the issue of the international narcotics trade, which Canadian Finance Minister Michael H. Wilson called “an important part of the summit,” the leaders made plans for a study and a meeting.

The study, an American initiative, will be of the laundering of drug money to obscure its source. “There is a common thread that goes through drugs, and that’s money,” said a senior Administration official who asked not to be identified.

The meeting, sought by Thatcher, will examine ways the industrial nations can cut down on demand for drugs. It will be held next summer in Britain.

Times staff writers Art Pine and Rone Tempest contributed to this story.

BUSH’S SCHEDULE

8:45 a.m. today. Arrives at American Cathedral of Paris to attend Sunday services.

9:45 a.m.--Arrives at Arch de la Defense for plenary session, followed by working luncheon.

6:05 p.m.--Arrives at Meridien Hotel for press conference.