WASHINGTON'S REACTION TO NATO BUDAPEST CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Hina) - NATO's European allies could not have dismissed the US programme on anti-missile defence because such a programme does not exist, a State Department representative said on Wednesday commenting on a two-day conference of the foreign ministers of NATO member-countries, held in Budapest on Tuesday and Wednesday. US State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker repeated what State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had said earlier in the Hungarian capital. We have not come here with a plan which should be approved, he said. It appears that reporters have caused the misunderstanding. They reported from Budapest that European ministers did not accept the proposal of their US colleague Colin Powell that current international agreements on the restriction of missile weapons should be abandoned and an anti-missile shield put up due to the threat of countries like North Korea, Iraq and Iran. Correspondents for US papers claim France and Germany refused the US proposal at a closed-door meeting. Powell was told that Europeans did not feel threatened and did not want to provoke possible tensions with hostile announcements. According to TV reports from Budapest, many Europeans fear the consequences of America's giving up the Agreement on Anti- Ballistic Missiles (ABM). No one in Washington was able to say whether Europe's unfavourable opinion and China's and Russia's open opposition to the US proposal would change the US stand on the need for an anti-missile shield. (hina) sb rml