S.A.L.T. II may be near at last

Press, 21 April 1979, Page 9

S.A.L.T. II may be near at last

NZPA-Reuter The American Secretary of I State (Mr Cyrus Vance) and; the Soviet Ambassador in ( Washington (Mr Anatoly! Dobrynin, will meet today! (N.Z. time) for the second! time in 24 hours to speed upi final talks on the Strategics Arms Limitation Treaty. j This is the first time the! two men have met on con-j secutive days for S.A.L.T.; talks. They had a one-hour j session on Thursday night. I Officials said the main! issues of the treaty have! been virtually resolved j though some techni- ; cal hitches remained. The! treaty could be completed' next week. One problem still to bet settled is the location of ai meeting between President! Carter and President Brezh-; nev to sign the new agree-! ment.

ij It is the Soviet leader's! ’turn to visit the United* ’! States and the Carter! 11 Administration has said it! 11 would prefer this, but! •.'United States officials said; <Mr Brezhnev’s uncertain; ii health could prevent him| >i travelling so far. The officials added the! j treaty may have to be! J signed in a neutral capital; J closer to Moscow, such as .(Geneva, Vienna, or Helsinki, j I President Carter, in a let-j 'ter made public on Thurs-; (day, said S.A.L.T. II would; (be much more restrictive on I (the number and power off .(new nuclear weapons than! [(the 1972 S.A.L.T. agreement. ! Mr Carter made his com-! merits in a letter, (to Senator Geroge Mc-I J Govern and Senator Wililiam Proxmire. both Demo-1 (crats, and a Republican.; 'Mark Hatfield, who have all'

reservations about! I‘tlte treaty. "If this agreement were tol simply redirect the strategic! : I arms competition to a more j vigorous technological com--1I petition, then it will have ' been a failure,” Mr Carter (said. , He said S.A.L.T. II would; i| limit new types of missiles, . missile size, and the number ' of nuclear warheads allowed on each weapon. ( Once the treaty is signed ijit will face an extremely difficult fight in the Senate, (where a two-thirds majority (vote of the 100 members is (needed for ratification. I Many senators think the J treaty does not do enough to 'j limit the growth of strategic "weapons. Others fell S.A.L.T. ’ II will give the Soviet Union la military advantage and I compliance with its provi-I 'sions cannot be verified.