Latin America Nations Seek Summit on Debts

BRASILIA, Brazil —  The presidents of seven Latin American debtor nations will seek a summit with leaders of the major industrialized nations to analyze the region’s debt problem, Brazilian officials said today.

The seven--Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela--say they want to reduce Latin America’s $420-billion debt to ensure economic growth and safeguard the area’s young democracies.

Brazilian presidential spokesman Carlos Henrique Santos said the Latin American presidents will seek a summit with the leaders of the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, West Germany, France and Italy.

Brazil is the coordinator of the Latin American group, which last week held a meeting of finance and economy ministers in Rio de Janeiro to shape a debt-reduction plan.

The Rio meeting said the need for debt reduction was urgent. Between 1983 and 1987 Latin America transferred more than $100 billion to creditor countries, and the region is suffering a serious economic crisis with no prospects of real growth.

President-elect George Bush pleased Latin American leaders with his statement Monday that he will undertake a major review of the existing U.S. debt strategy.

Bush is obliged to submit a report on Third World debt to Congress by February.

Many in Latin America hope that next year will see a breakthrough in solving the 6-year-old debt crisis.

The three main Third World debtors are Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, which together owe about $290 billion.