Interview With the President Question-and-Answer Session With Members of the Japanese Press. June 20, 1979

TOKYO SUMMIT MEETING

Q. Mr. President, it has been widely assumed that energy will be one of the key issues in the Tokyo summit. I wonder if you would delineate for us what is it you would like to accomplish in the coming Tokyo summit? What is it you think is significant in this particular summit as compared to the past four previous summits?

THE PRESIDENT. This will be the first opportunity that the major Western nations' leaders will have to address the energy question as a top item on the agenda. In the past, we have dealt primarily with macroeconomic matters. Obviously, some of them still prevail. Inflation, unemployment, enhanced trade are of importance to our country and will be discussed. But energy will be the major topic.

We have done a great deal of preparatory work among the nations who will be represented in Tokyo. I will spend a day or two with Prime Minister Ohira before the other leaders arrive in Japan. We will

be sharing our ideas in preparation for the summit.

Obviously, some of the considerations will be a continuation of our past discussions. We have committed ourselves, a major consuming nation, to reduce our imports of oil by 2 million barrels per day by the end of 1979, compared to projected use. We will discuss means to implement this commitment and also to extend the conservation effort through 1980 and subsequent years.

Additionally, we will explore new ways to increase the production and use of nonfossil fuel supplies of energy. Coal, nuclear power, solar power will all be discussed quite thoroughly. We are, obviously, interested in safety and the preservation of the quality of our environ

ment.

A special consideration which I would like to explore with Prime Minister Ohira and others is the international sharing of responsibility for technological developments, liquefaction, gasification of coal, the use of renewable energy sources, and direct use of sunlight, and how to assure that nuclear power is both safe and efficient.

These are the kind of issues we will be exploring in energy among ourselves. The