Word: summits
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Trudeau, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti. A notable absentee: French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who boycotted the dinner. Reason: he was piqued that British Laborite Roy Jenkins had been invited to both Callaghan's dinner and some of the summit sessions in his capacity as president of the European Community's Brussels-based commission. Like his predecessors, Giscard is determined to keep the Common Market and its representatives from getting too uppity...
Economic topics-including uses and controls of nuclear energy-dominated much of the summit, although human rights and other political issues were also discussed. There was agreement that the global economic recovery has not been proceeding quickly enough and that unemployment and inflation remain twin dangers (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS). Each leader recited his country's growth-rate target for 1977 and pledged to do what was needed to meet it. The leaders also agreed that: 1) protectionism poses dangers to international trade; 2) the International Monetary Fund should be supported in its efforts to reduce imbalances in international payments...
...summit's hosts, the British demonstrated that they remain the grand masters of pomp. Jimmy Carter may be a no-frills President, but that did not deter the British from launching one extravagant scene after another. At the Buckingham Palace dinner given by Queen Elizabeth II, gold-tunicked trumpeters of the Household Cavalry heralded the approaching guests. In the sumptuous state dining room, all rich red damask, velvet, marble, mahogany and gold, an eight-course feast (including salmon, chicken, carrots and string beans) was served on gold plates by footmen in scarlet tails and white waistcoats, assisted by pages...
...surprisingly, the summit's final communique, issued before hundreds of newsmen and staffers, produced no blueprint for curing the world's economic and political ills. A British official suggested that the conference's greatest success was simply that it had taken place. As Schmidt noted at one point, "We will leave with clearer ideas about each other's problems...
Intimate Brainstorming. After the summit Carter was to remain in London, ostensibly to discuss Berlin with Callaghan, Schmidt and Giscard. In fact, that was merely a pretext (also used by Henry Kissinger) to enable the West's four major military powers to hold an intimate brainstorming session about pressing global political issues. Since there are currently no major problems over Berlin, the Big Four were expected to discuss the Middle East, conventional arms exports, nuclear proliferation and the SALT talks...