World Leaders Welcomed To Denver Clinton Urges Summit-Goers To Follow U.S. Growth Example

President Clinton welcomed world leaders Thursday to this fast-growing Rocky Mountain capital where he heralded the American economic boom and exhorted allied nations “to cut a new path” that would subdue high unemployment and costly government assistance programs.

“We host our partners at a time when America’s economy is the healthiest in a generation and the strongest in the world,” Clinton said as he prepared to be host to leaders from six other traditional Western powers as well as Russia.

A steady parade of limousines rushed from Denver International Airport, whisking presidents and prime ministers to town. Security was intense, with concerns heightened by the just-completed trial of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. All police leaves were canceled.

Summit officials delivered a prize platform to Boris Yeltsin, asking the Russian president to make opening remarks at a banquet tonight that will kick off the three-day summit.

The 23rd-annual summit of leading industrialized nations was expanded this year to include Russia - a reward for Moscow’s adherence to difficult economic and political reforms and a trophy for Yeltsin for his grudging acceptance of NATO expansion.

The club is formally known as the Group of Seven - the United States, Canada, Britain, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - but after Yeltsin was invited, Clinton named the meeting “The Denver Summit of the Eight.”

The president spoke in front of a maze of satellite dishes at the National Digital Television Center - a background intended to symbolize America’s leap from the industrial age to the information age.

He said allies - wrestling with high unemployment but skeptical about belt-tightening strategies - could learn from U.S. growth policies.

“Can they still grow their economy and reduce spending? You bet they can. Every single country can have the same impact, but you have to be willing to break through those old myths and old ideas,” he said.

During his presidency, Clinton said, “hundreds of government programs, thousands of government regulations have been eliminated. And so help me, not a single American citizen has come up to me and said, “I just can’t live without that program or that regulation you got rid of.”