President Bush and British Prime Minister John Major on Friday concluded two days of talks exploring how the West should respond to the momentous changes in the Soviet Union.
"We've done an awful lot of business here, talking about the future," Bush said.Major and his family, after two nights at the president's oceanfront vacation home, flew back to London. The prime minister will go to Moscow on Sunday as the first Western leader to visit the Soviet Union since the botched coup against Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of communist rule.
In their talks, the two Western leaders agreed to provide food aid to the Soviet Union but to continue to withhold any commitment of direct financial aid. They said they would send experts to the Soviet Union to assess its medical and food needs.
Bush and Major exchanged gifts, with Bush getting an orange-handled cricket bat and Major taking home a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Major also gave Bush a leather-bound book commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and asked that it be turned over to the Library of Congress.
Major joked that Americans' ignorance of cricket was "one small defect" in the Anglo-American relationship. "We hope we can encourage you to add to the golf, the swimming, the fishing, the tennis in any spare time you have with a little cricket," Major cracked. The cricket bat was signed by a championship English team.