War high on Paris agenda

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 8

War high on Paris agenda

lurn i ano Government leaders from the West's key industrial nations begin a busy round of summit talks today, hoping to smooth the rougher edges of a global recession. They seek to dampen a threatening trade war, to lessen the turmoil caused by sudden currency upheavals, and to cushion.the effects of inflation and mounting umemployment. The Falklands conflict is likely to be a dominant issue, with- growing concern over its impact on wider Western interests.

President Ronald Reagan, President Francois Mitterand of France, the West German Chancellor (Mr Helmut Schmidt) and the Prime Ministers of Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan have admitted they see no easy solutions for their economic problems.. The best they hope for at the eighth annual Western economic summit meeting is better co-ordination; and more planning to help cope with the worst recession in 50 years. . The three-day meeting at the lavish seventeenth century chateau of Versailles outside Paris will enable the Government chiefs to range over the world’s problems in a secluded, informal setting. Mr Reagan, on his first Presidential visit to Europe, will discuss the Falklands fighting with the British .Prime Minister (Mrs Margarei Thatcher) in Paris before they are whisked to Versailles by helicopter. It will be their first meeting since Argentina seized the Falklands from Britain two months ago.

With British troops poised -- for a final battle to retake . the islands, Mr Reagan was expected to urge that Britain should try to avoid more heavy casualties and to seek t an outcome that did not ' unduly humiliate Argentina. Mrs Thatchdr would prob- ' ably seek American help in : making the bleak and sparsely populated Falklands - economically viable and in’ ! ensuring their future securitv. British sources said.

"She would ask the confer- L ence to endorse Britain’s de- " cision to send a naval task >•> force to regain the islands. Although Western governments see virtually no hope for a negotiated Argentinewithdrawal yet, Mr Mit-.' terand and Mr Schmidt were'expected tb K urge Mrs. Thatcher to consider an eventual political deal with,. Buenos Aires. -

France and West Germany are known to have reservations about the extent of force used by Britain. A high-ranking French official told American journalists yesterday that France wanted a pause for talks. “I am sorry that we have not heard that expression in the British mouth,” said the official, who declined to be identified (later American press reports identified him as the French Foreign Minister, Claude Cheysson.) French support for the British Government, “does not mean we approve of everything they are doing,” he said.

Mr Reagan and other allied leaders believe that Western backing for Britain could backfire by damaging the West’s standing in Latin America and increasing the risk of Soviet interference.