CHIRAC, REAGAN DISCUSS ARMS CONTROL, TRADE

  French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac
  opened talks with President Ronald Reagan expected to focus on
  superpower arms control moves and trade issues.
      French officials said a major aim of Chirac's visit was to
  present France's concern that the United States might ignore
  European security interests in any accord with Moscow on
  removing medium-range nuclear missiles from the continent.
      But Reagan was expected to assure Chirac that he will not
  agree to a deal at the Geneva superpower talks that would give
  the Russians superiority in shorter-range systems, diplomats
  said.
      France has expressed doubts about removing U.S. missiles
  from Europe so long as the Soviet Union maintains an edge in
  other weaponry, particularly shorter-range rockets,
  conventional forces and chemical weapons.
      Speaking last night, Chirac set out the French position
  saying: "Any agreement on intermediate nuclear forces should
  mention how equality can be achieved in short-range missiles."
      Reagan and Chirac meanwhile signed an agreement ending a
  dispute between two leading research institutes over patent
  rights to a blood screening test for the deadly disease AIDS.
      In a joint statement, Chirac and Reagan said the Pasteur
  Institute in Paris and the National Cancer Institute, of
  Bethesda, Maryland, agreed to give part of the royalties from
  the test to a new foundation dedicated to the wordwide fight
  against AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
      "This agreement opens a new era in Franco-American
  cooperation, allowing France and the United States to join
  their efforts to control this terrible disease in the hopes of
  speeding the development of an AIDS vaccine and cure," Reagan
  said at the signing ceremony. 
      He said the two parties would share the patent and give 80
  per cent of the royalties received to the new foundation.
      The foundation would also raise private funds and would
  donate 25 per cent of its money to combat AIDS in less
  developed countries. 
      Both leaders stressed the long ties between France and the
  United States during a welcoming ceremony in the White House
  East Room, with Reagan describing France as "America's oldest
  ally in war and peace." 
      "I have come to tell you that we are remain motivated by the
  same ideals of freedom, by the same will to face the dangers
  which we both confront -- terrorism, war, hunger, poverty, new
  diseases and drugs," Chirac replied.
      But the two countries are likely to have less to agree on
  over the issue of trade, where Chirac is worried about a rise
  in protectionism in the U.S. Congress. 
      A senior U.S. official yesterday dismissed a French idea to
  sell cut-price grain to poor countries in Africa as a way of
  lessening surplus stocks.
      Chirac is expected to canvass support for the idea, first
  proposed by French Agriculture Minister Francois Guillaume,
  during his two-day visit to Washington.
      The U.S. official described the idea as a "grain producers'
  OPEC" -- a reference to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
  Countries -- and said it went against the Reagan
  administration's desire to lessen government intervention in
  trade.
  

