Soviets Heat Up the Summit : Leaders of 7 Nations at Odds on Aid

Leaders of the world’s seven richest nations opened summit talks today sharply at odds over aid to the Soviet Union. Trade and environmental disputes also threatened the harmony.

President Bush challenged his partners “to bring a new stability and prosperity to the world by tapping the power and energy of free wills and free markets.”

In the absence of agreement on Soviet aid, the leaders may agree to send a team of Western bankers and other experts to Moscow to assess needs in transportation, marketing and other areas, diplomatic sources said.

A U.S. source predicted that the summit will produce a strong statement of support for Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s perestroika program of economic reforms and will recognize the need of each country to act on an individual basis in terms of direct financial assistance.

At an outdoor welcoming ceremony--shortened because of the unrelenting Texas heat--Bush said: “A new world of freedom (lies) before us. Hopeful. Confident. A world where peace endures, where commerce has a conscience and where all that seems possible is possible.”

“So let us begin, in good faith, to set the stage for the new millennium,” the President said.

Cannon salutes and military pageantry greeted the leaders of West Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan as they assembled on the campus of Rice University for three days of talks.

A fife-and-drum corps decked out in white wigs and Revolutionary War costumes added to the colorful opening.

The 16th annual gathering of the world’s largest industrial democracies was the first economic summit of the post-Cold War era.

With the cooling of East-West tensions, summit countries are grappling with different strategies to extend a welcoming hand to East Europe and the Soviet Union.

In Moscow, senior Soviet officials rejected Bush’s reasons for resisting help for the Soviet Union. The President has expressed concerns over Soviet military spending, Soviet subsidies for Cuba and the lack of reforms in Moscow’s government-controlled economy.

“To dictate conditions to such a country as the Soviet Union, a great power, is embarrassing,” said Gorbachev staff member Georgy Shakhnazarov. “We aren’t taking orders.”

On a more conciliatory note, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze said, “We understand if no one wants to take a risk. The U.S.A. isn’t speaking in favor of development of economic cooperation if reform doesn’t proceed as we plan.”

White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu said the Western leaders lined up “about half on one side, and half on the other” over how to provide financial assistance to Moscow.

He said Bush recognized that other countries “may have a slightly different agenda that would drive” their actions. “We understand that others may have a different sequence of decisions and timing of decisions to be made. . . . “

On other disputes, Europeans are resisting Bush’s demand for phasing out farm subsidies over the next 10 years and, together with Canada, are pushing for agreement on new steps to halt global warming.