Wartime Allies Meet Today on Berlin for 1st Time in 18 Years

Ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union will hold their first joint meeting in 18 years here today to discuss the future of the divided city.

Among topics to be discussed are such matters as expanded air traffic in and out of Berlin and the possibility of the city hosting the Olympic Games in 2004, according to Western diplomats.

Berlin’s role as a center for East-West dialogue is also on the agenda, they said.

An Allied statement Sunday said that the U.S., British and French envoys from Bonn will join the Soviet ambassador to East Germany at the Allied Control Authority, a grand 19th-Century building set in a West Berlin park.

The statement said Moscow told the Western powers last Friday that it was prepared to discuss a Western proposal to improve air links to West Berlin, an enclave city entirely surrounded by East German territory.

The Allies’ proposal stemmed from a speech given in West Berlin by then-President Ronald Reagan in June, 1987. The so-called Berlin Initiative, the main goal of which was to loosen the restrictive air traffic system that has affected all of the city since the end of World War II, was presented to the Kremlin later that year. The Soviets had refused to discuss it until now.

Sunday’s statement said that “the Allies welcome this readiness on the part of the Soviet Union and look forward to productive discussions.”