Vancouver Summit: Investment in Peace

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DOOMSDAY ISSUES HAD NOT QUITE DISAPPEARED from the table. They lurked, in the form of two strategic-arms agreements yet to be put into full effect, as reminders of the cost of failing. But when Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin took their seats for Saturday's opening summit session, held in Vancouver, the throw weights on the agenda were denominated less in nuclear megatonnage than in dollars and acres of private farmland and doses of medicine and people-to- people exchanges. The two Presidents spent most of their time discussing how best to stabilize and begin mending the crippled Russian economy, largely through transfusions from the U.S. and other developed democracies that Clinton views as a form of post-cold war self-interest. Said Clinton: "The kinds of things we propose to do are likely to have lasting and tangible impact."

Mindful that many Americans remain skeptical of aid to a former enemy, however, Clinton limited direct U.S. government commitments to $1.6 billion already appropriated -- mainly technical and humanitarian assistance in the fields of energy, agriculture and health care. The U.S. President is also trying to get the so-called Group of Seven industrialized powers to coordinate and beef up their own direct aid to Russia. Then the G-7 will tackle heavy- duty measures to help stabilize Russia's ruble and supply vital imports. The group's summit, to which Yeltsin has been invited, is scheduled to convene in July in Tokyo. (See related story on page 28.)