COLUMN LEFT : Set More Places at Summit Table : If we are to have a true peace, the rest of the world must be given a say.

When I first met Mikhail Gorbachev in December, 1985, in Geneva, I came away impressed by his vision of the world. After having had the privilege recently to meet with him again, at a luncheon he hosted for American political leaders, entertainers and scholars during the summit in Washington, I am even more convinced of his commitment to world peace.

When we first met, he had the courage and boldness to step outside of the assumptions of the old Cold War bureaucracy. I was in Geneva leading a delegation of United States peace activists who were supporting the first summit between President Reagan and Gorbachev. We had 1 million signatures on petitions urging a reduction in the arms race to present to the two leaders. Our President refused to see us. But the man labeled by President Reagan as the leader of “an evil empire” did see us.

Standing in a crowded rotunda inside the Soviet Embassy, I saw Gorbachev at the other end of the hall. Before his stunned aides, our excited delegation and more than 100 press people, we greeted each other and held our talk there in the open, rather than in a private room. He accepted the petitions and we exchanged views.

Throughout the years since then, Gorbachev has played a major role in planting new seeds of hope. It is as if he is adhering to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.--”We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will die apart as fools.”

At the luncheon in Washington, which was attended by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, economist John Kenneth Galbraith and others, Gorbachev caught many of his guests off guard. Many of these advocates of the Cold War military buildup were stunned by his pronouncements that a new world order was before us. He talked about joint ventures, in oil explorations, for our environment and in space development initiatives.

Without the threat of dropping any bombs, Gorbachev has helped shift the world from standing on the brink of war to discussing long-term peace. The world has indeed moved from fear to hope. We are moving away from nightmarish thoughts of the aftermath of a nuclear war. Instead we are moving toward finding avenues to increase tourism and expanded student exchange programs between the two countries.

For this optimism to spread across the world, it is important that all of the world leaders convene and talk. Unfortunately, when Bush and Gorbachev hold summits, only a minority of the world is represented. Together, America and the Soviet Union make up only one-tenth of the human race. The point is that 60% of all human beings are Asian; one-third of that 60% are Chinese. One-eighth of the human race is African; more than one-fifth of Africans are Nigerian. There are more than a dozen nations in the Middle East. There are 833 million people in India, 300 million more than the United States and Soviet Union combined. Two-thirds of our neighbors in the Americas speak Spanish and Portuguese. Most people in the world are yellow, brown, black, non-Christian, poor, young and don’t speak English.

Our global village is not so big. Four years ago, when we first got word that there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, it was dismissed as a Soviet problem. But it was actually a problem for all the Soviet Union’s neighbors. Later, cows as far away as Oregon had health problems related to that accident.

If Bush and Gorbachev can meet to discuss matters that affect all of us on Earth, then why can’t the leaders of the Middle Eastern countries also be there? Why not a delegation of African presidents at that table, as well as leaders from the Far East and Central and South America?

This process for changing the world is coming from a few. The ultimate peace agreement will be the one when the rest of the world is represented at the table.

This hope explosion is taking place at the right time in our history. It will inevitably have a providential impact on our national debate regarding the peace dividend, as we insist that the military budget be drastically cut and the benefits be directed to meet urgent human needs at home.

The ultimate benefactors in this peace process will be the children of the world. They will no longer have to grow up burdened and fearful of nuclear war. That’s why the decision to save the world should be a shared vision by all of the leaders of the world.