Meeting With Head of Delegation of Supreme Soviet Parliamentarians White House Statement Issued Following the Meeting With B. N. Ponomareo.

The President met for I hour this afternoon with Mr. Boris Ponomarev. Mr. Ponomarev is the head of a delegation of parliamentarians of the Supreme Soviet visiting the United States at the invitation of the U.S. Congress. He is a candidate Politburo member and Central Committee Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The President stated his interest in working on a mutual basis to widen the areas of cooperation and to limit the areas of competition that mark relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The President noted that this will require reciprocity and restraint on both sides. The discussion was friendly and productive.

Specific subjects discussed included SALT, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and other issues.

The President was joined by the Vice President, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Assistant for National Security Affairs, and Reginald Bartholomew of the NSC staff. Mr. Ponomarev was accompanied by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. The interpreters were Dimitry Zarechnak for the United States and Olga A. Krokhaley for the Soviet Union..