BUCHAREST, Romania -- Vice President George Bush met Sunday with President Nicholae Ceausescu and reassured him President Reagan was 'deeply committed' to reducing nuclear arms at the Geneva talks with the Soviet Union.
'I am not sure we have properly conveyed his conviction that he feels very, very strongly about -- and that the United States will stay at that table as long as necessary -- to achieve the reductions that all mankind really truly wants,' Bush said.
He delivered the off-the-cuff remarks at a lunch before his four hours of talks with Ceausescu.
Washington had hoped to press Bucharest on its imposition of an education tax to reduce emigration of highly educated Romanians and Romania's $10 billion debt to western banks.
The Romanian news agency Agerpres said Ceausescu urged Washington to delay deployment of 572 U.S missiles in western Europe.
Bush's remarks were in response to a toast by Romanian Vice President Gheorghe Radulescu reminding Bush of Ceausescu's iniatives to get both Moscow and Washington to cut back on the arms race.
'You mention the question of intermediate-nuclear force negotiations in Geneva going on now,' said Bush. 'Ceausescu's conviction on this matter is well known to us. The point I wish to make here is that our president is deeply committed to significant arms reductions.'
To underscore Romania's stand on arms negotiations, the Communist newspaper Scintea Sunday printed a letter from Ceausescu to eight U.S. congressmen expressing the deep concern of the Romanian people over the deployment of missiles in Europe.
In the letter, Ceausescu said the deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles be postponed until late 1984 or early 1985. He suggested the Soviet Union in return should halt deployment and modernization of its missiles while reducing those sited in Europe.
Romania, which often pursues foreign policies independent from Moscow, is the first of two East bloc countries Bush is visiting on a 7-nation tour of North Africa and southeastern Europe. He was flying on to Hungary Monday.
Bush flew to the Romanian capital from Belgrade after two days of talks in non-aligned communist Yugoslavia.
He finishes his overseas swing in Austria Wednesday.
