Malta Summit

Malta Summit
Gorbachev and Bush about to share a meal on board the Soviet cruise ship Maksim Gorkiy
Host country Malta
DateDecember 2–3, 1989
Venue(s)Maksim Gorkiy
CitiesBirżebbuġa
Participants
FollowsGovernors Island Summit
PrecedesHelsinki Summit (1990)

The Malta Summit was a meeting between United States President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 2–3, 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It followed a meeting that included Ronald Reagan in New York in December 1988. During the summit, Bush and Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War, although whether it was truly such is a matter of debate. News reports of the time referred to the Malta Summit as one of the most important since World War II, when British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed on a post-war plan for Europe at the Yalta Conference.