Reagan Sets Limited Goals for Gorbachev Talks in N.Y.

President Reagan set limited goals today for his meeting early next month in New York with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, saying it will not be in the nature of a summit.

But mindful of Gorbachev’s escalation of their agenda in Iceland two years ago, Reagan said, “We’ll just have to see what comes up.”

The meeting, to be held in conjunction with a speech by Gorbachev to the U.N. General Assembly, would ease the transition to President-elect George Bush’s assumption of office Jan. 20.

Bush, who is already committed to pursuing a summit with Gorbachev next year, will participate in the session and not see the Soviet leader separately, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. He said the agenda has not been set.

The target date for the meeting is Dec. 7. Secretary of State George P. Shultz is due in Brussels to attend a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers Dec. 8-9.

Gorbachev proposed the meeting with Reagan and Bush through Soviet Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin a few days ago, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Reagan readily accepted.

The President told reporters he anticipated “a brief get-together” with the Soviet leader. They have held four summits in the last three years and improved superpower relations. The principal achievement was the treaty Reagan and Gorbachev signed last December in Washington to abolish U.S. and Soviet intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov described the meeting as part of “a continuation of the U.S.-Soviet political dialogue that we believe should continue without artificial pause.”

Announcing Gorbachev’s visit, the Soviet press agency Tass said he will also travel to Britain and Cuba and set forth Soviet views on problems of world development in his speech to the United Nations.

Before Reagan and Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, in October, 1986, U.S. officials had limited expectations of their agenda. But the two leaders proceeded to reach tentative judgments about wide-ranging reductions in their nuclear arsenals. The summit broke up in a disagreement over Reagan’s anti-missile Strategic Defense Initiative.

Asked if the New York meeting could develop the same way, Reagan replied, “That depends on whether you are going by the public version of Reykjavik or what actually happened there.”

Bush has already said he does not need a get-acquainted meeting with Gorbachev, having met him during the Soviet leader’s visit to Washington. The President-elect has said he would like to hold a summit meeting provided it held out promise of progress in any one of several areas, including arms control and human rights.