The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 11, 1990 Page: 1 of 8
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SINCE 1916
The
VOLUME 78, NO. 3 THE BEST TIME TO ROB A BANK IN HOUSTON WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1990
G-7 leaders agree to study Soviet economy for six months
economic reforms. for Reconstruction and Develop- the Soviets had previously been a its best interest in regar
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by Kelley Tuthill
University of Notre Dame
Backing down from their support
for joint financial assistance to the
Soviet Union, leaders of the G-7 na-
tions agreed to President George
Bush's plan to study the ailing na-
tion's monetary needs, said Secre-
tary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady
at a press conference Tuesday.
Brady downplayed the disagree-
ment among the leaders of the indus-
trialized nations, instead stressing a
unified support for Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev's political and
economic reforms
Although Bush initiated the pro-
posal for a study, Brady was hesitant
to call the compromise a U.S. victory.
The study will investigate the
economic situation in the Soviet
Union and determine how Gor-
bachev's reforms would be put in
place. It will also suggest how the
countries could aid Gorbachev's re-
form movement in technological
advances.
The six-month study will be done
by the International Monetary Fund,
the World Bank, the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and De-
velopment and the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Develop-
ment, Brady said.
Although the World Bank is a
neutral professional international
organization with the resources al-
ready in place, it may not be able to
participate in the project, according
to a Tuesday Reuters report
And even if the study is under-
taken, it would take at least a year
and "clearly could not serve as the
basis for the quick emergency finan-
cial support which has been pro-
posed by some of the summit lead-
ers," a spokesman fof the World
Bank told Reuters.
The issue of joint monetary aid to
'Hello, Sir? How's the Prime Minister this afternoon?'
As the leaders of the G-7 nations met in Rice University's Herring Hall yesterday afternoon, the Thresher
placed phone calls to several of the leaders' personal holding rooms in the building.
Although the. calls irritated many of the high-level assistants, some officials were glad to talk, though
cautious about providing any information which might not be meant to be released to the press.
"The mood of the delegation is good," said Horst Teltschik, personal adviser to Chancellor Helmut Kohl of
West Germany, adding that he feels the summit is going well for his country's delegation.
An assistant to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said their delegation is enjoying the summit,
adding that Rice University is "extremely well-appointed" and Thatcher is "extremely satisfied with the
university facilities."
Teltschik was glad to discuss some of the summit issues, such as the West German proposal to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent On the issue of Western aid to the Soviet Union, he expressed regret
that some of Mikhail Gorbachev's changes in the Soviet economy—proposed but not yet approved by the
Supreme Soviet—were a sticking point in the negotiations.
But typical of the irritation at student journalists calling them during the meetings was the icy reaction from
the quarters of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney: "Look, we dont want to talk to you from this number.
Call the press office."
Second day: China, Third World
THE SUMMIT SEVEN
Canada
The decision of the world leaders
gathered in Houston to maintain
loan restrictions on China brings the
issue of human rights into the eco-
nomic world.
It is important for the leaders, in
all their decisions, to consider the
human rights records of countries
affected by any policies. Any subver-
sion of the popular will of a countiy's
people should not be supported by
these industrialized nations. Itwould
amount to complicity.
This theme not only pervades the
discussions about China, but also the
issues of Soviet aid and debt relief.
However human rights must not be
confused with political structures.
Simply because democratic western
nations dissapprove of closed econo-
mies and communist regimes, the
exisitence of these institutions
should not preclude aid.
The main issue is self-determina-
tion. The popular will of the people is
what should be supported and fos-
tered, not blind alignment with west-
ern political and economic struc-
tures.
-Greg Sewell, University of
Toronto
Japan
Toshiki Kaifu, the Prime Minister
of Japan, emphasized aid to the Third
World, focusing on Asia. During the
summit he has presented the needs
of countries in Asia and the Pacific
area to the other developed coun-
tries. He said that although the world
is aptto focus on the historic changes
in Europe, we shouldn't forget or
decrease the economic aid to the
Third World. This shows Japan's
role as the only nation from Asia
taking part in the summit
Japan is willing to aid China, in
part because Japanese enterprises
are lured into a large market in
China.
On the other hand, as a July 10
article in the Houston Chronicle says,
some Asians, including the Chinese,
are critical of the economic aid from
the Soviets had previously been a
point of division for the leaders. The
U.S. has maintained that it could not
send monetary aSd- to the Soviet
Union unless the Soviets made a
commitment to market reforms.
France and West Germany, how-
ever, have called for an immediate
increase in help for Gorbachev.
American people could not justify
a loan to the Soviet Union "while the
Soviet Union is providing $5 billion of
aid to Cuba, while their [Soviet]
missiles are trained on our cities,
while 18 percent of their GNP is
dedicated to defense," the Secretary
said.
There is no indication that the
announcement of the study will cur-
tail West Germany's plans for aid to
the Soviets, Brady stated, who added
that each country must do what is in
its best interest in regard to aid to the
Soviets.
Brady also addressed other sum-
mit issues including discussions on
the Uruguay Round.
SEE STUDY, PAGE 4
Secretary of State James Baker
Summit causes merchants
to suffer, despite visitors
by Elise Perachio
Rice University
and Shaila Dewan
Rice University
Japan because they consider the aid
an economic invasion that reminds
them of the military invasion during
World War II.
It goes without saying that this
shows Japan hasn't fulfilled its duties
to send aid to Asia yet Unfortu-
nately, Japan is separated from not
only the United States and Europe,
but also from Asia.
-Kyoto Eguchi, University of To-
kyo
France
France has proposed another
plan to avoid continued deterioration
of Third World economies. For sev-
eral months, Paris has been making
decisions to ease the deprived coun-
tries' pain. The underdeveloped na-
tions were in such dire straits that it
was high time to act France has
already addressed the plight of the
less developed nations by writing off
their French debts.
Last year, the G-7 leaders came to
an agreement providing for commer-
cial bank loans to middle income
countries, like Brazil or Poland. An
option system was instituted by
which the commercial banks could
choose between three payment op-
tions: to reduce the debt itS&lf, to
decrease the interest rates on pay-
ments, or to pump more money into
the Third World economies.
SEE SEVEN, PAGE 4
Houston may be hot for some, but
many local restauranteurs, bartend-
ers, and cabbies have gotten the cold
shoulder from visiting media. It's no
surprise since, as has been dis-
cussed often on television and in
print, the media have access to all the
free food, drink and transportation
they want 24 hours a day at the
George R. Brown Convention Cen-
ter.
Local merchants are upset over
the freebies which the Houston
Summit Host Committee calls hospi-
tality. They hoped the influx of visi-
tors would bring a boon to what is
usually one of the slowest periods for
the service industry, the week after
July 4th. But instead, those with ac-
cess to the Brown's luscious spread
are electing to save their money and
stay out of the heat
Among the disgruntled Houston
entrepreneurs are taxi drivers who
must compete with METRO'S free
shuttle service to the Brown, hotels,
and Rice University. One Yellow Cab
driver said that rather than increase
business for him, the summit has
diminished it particularly because
of the various roadblocks estab-
lished for motorcades.
"It takes too long to get to your
Inside this issue...
destination," he explained. "We usu-
ally have a company policy of picking
customers up within 10 minutes of a
call. Now we estimate about 30 rmn
utes," he stated.
This was supposed to generate a
lot of revenue," said Reagan Wilkins,
the manager of the Atchafalaya River
Cafe. Their Cajun cuisine has at-
tracted mostly Japanese journalists,
though those may have been the
only ones wearing their credentials,
he said.
Has the food service at the con-
vention center cut down on their
profits? "Absolutely," replied Wilk-
ins. The restaurant expected a 25
percent increase in business but now
estimates they've received only
about 10 percent more,
Dong Ting, a downtown restau-
rant which is hosting a special party
for the Japanese delegation today, is
"kind of disappointed" about the lack
of business from summit visitors,
said manager Jack TsaL "All in all, 1
think we gain a little, but it's way
below our expectations."
Tsai, too, stated that traffic block-
ades have cut down on business.
"That hurt our regular customers."
"We're difficult to get to, with the
traffic the way they're routing it,"
said the general manager of the Cat-
tleguard Restaurant and Bar. Santo
Buttacavoli says that he's played
host to police officers, but few jour-
nalists have ventured to his down-
SEE MERCHANTS, PAGE 6
page 3* Opinion: Latin and North Americas form an economic bloc that
should be exploited.
page 7* Arts & Entertainment Atchafalaya River Cafe serves affordable
Cajun food.
page 8* Summit Summary—a photo essay.
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 11, 1990, newspaper, July 11, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245756/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.