Due to the vested interests of both the Soviet Union and the United States in the Gulf Crisis' resolution, August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was the primary topic of discussion for the leaders during the Helsinki Summit.

At the summit's conclusion, Presidents Bush and Gorbachev produced a document of joint statements that illuminated the areas in which the leaders had committed to aligning their foreign policy goals.

[1] Between 1985 and 1990, a series of bilateral conferences were held between the Soviet Union's General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and United States' Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

[8] Mr. Gorbachev proclaimed that the legacy of the Malta Summit was so important, “that if it had not taken place, the world out there would be unrecognisable to the one we live in today” and assured that they will never start a hot war against the United States.

[3] Emerging from the summit, Presidents Bush and Gorbachev produced a two-page document of joint statements regarding their various topics of conversation during their seven-hour private meeting.

"[12] While the summit's closed doors prevented the public from learning about the specific details of the pair's negotiations, the Presidents emerged from their meeting claiming a joint decision to prioritize a diplomatic solution to the Gulf Crisis.

The Presidents' answers both drew heavily from the joint statement that the two had just released, which called for Iraq to comply with the United Nations Resolution 660 for a peaceful de-escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf.

On the subject, President Bush stated that the pair hadn't discussed military options during their meeting and that a diplomatic solution to the Gulf Crisis was the extent to which the US was willing to consider.

To the question regarding the state of their relations, President Gorbachev said of the current summit that "this is the test of the durability of the new approach to solving world problems…what we have seen today is that we have confirmed the most important progress in recent time.

[3] President Gorbachev responded to the question by acknowledging that there was a "link" between the nature of the Gulf Crisis and the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and therefore, that the resolution of both crises were of "equal concern" to the Soviet Union.

The states of the CSCE also made arrangements to hold similar high-level political meetings on a regular basis, to build upon efforts to prevent conflict, control arms and safeguard elections within these countries.

[4] Following the conference, while global media coverage generally regarded the United States as being more inclined to engage the Iraqi conflict with military force, the Soviet Union was viewed as favouring punitive trade embargoes to complement their diplomatic efforts at de-escalation.