Reagan, Gorbachev Will Meet Nov. 19-21 in Geneva : Reagan and Gorbachev to Meet Nov. 19-21

WASHINGTON —  President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will meet in a long-awaited summit Nov. 19-21 in Geneva, with an agenda ranging from nuclear weapons curbs to turmoil in the Middle East and Latin America, Administration officials said today.

It will be the first U.S.-Soviet summit meeting in six years and Reagan’s first encounter with the new Soviet leader.

Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin met Secretary of State George P. Shultz on Monday to confirm the date and place of the summit after months of back-and-forth diplomatic negotiations, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

When a joint announcement of the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting will be made was not disclosed.

Since denouncing the Soviet Union in March, 1983, as “the focus of evil in the modern world,” Reagan has taken a more moderate stance toward Moscow, urging an accommodation to reduce offensive nuclear weapons on both sides.

‘Star Wars’ Obstacle

Revived arms talks in Geneva are slow-paced, with Reagan’s controversial “Star Wars” program a major obstacle to progress.

The summit agenda is expected to be broad, with arms control at the top but also including the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan, U.S. efforts to open Arab-Israeli talks and the spread of socialism in Central America.

Some officials said expectations for the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting are low. “We would hope it would be along the lines of the President’s meeting last fall with (then Foreign Minister Andrei) Gromyko, where they got to know each other,” one official said.

National security adviser Robert C. McFarlane has in the past sought to make a distinction between a “summit” and a “meeting,” saying Reagan would be interested in a get-acquainted session without the formality and expectations that would accompany a summit.

Asked today if the arrangements now made are for a “summit” or a “meeting,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes replied, “A summit meeting.”