April 9, 1986

President Reagan and Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the departing Soviet Ambassador, agreed today to lay the groundwork for a United States-Soviet summit meeting in the United States this year. At the same time, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, in a private letter to Mr. Reagan, expressed strong interest in ''proceeding ahead with a dialogue'' that could lead to substantive results in arms reduction, according to a ranking Administration official. Mr. Gorbachev's letter, according to the official, said in essence that ''we need to continue the dialogue, we need to make progress on the issues before us.'' Letter Delivered by Dobrynin The letter, delivered by Mr. Dobrynin at a 75-minute meeting with Mr. Reagan in the Oval Office, set ''no preconditions,'' a White House official said.

The Justice Department has decided to let Federal prosecutors in Manhattan seek the indictment of Stanley M. Friedman, the Bronx Democratic leader, on racketeering charges stemming from his role representing contractors with the city's Parking Violations Bureau, according to lawyers familiar with the case. The decision was made over the objections of Mr. Friedman's attorney, Thomas P. Puccio, the lawyers said. He objected on the ground that the charges would essentially duplicate a state indictment brought recently by a grand jury under the direction of the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, according to the lawyers. The lawyers said the planned Federal charges would, in fact, include charges related to the same acts cited in the state case, but would also go beyond the state case.

The cast listing with a theater review of ''Wasted'' yesterday gave an incorrect address for the WPA Theater. It is at 519 West 23d Street.

MANY people were pleasantly surprised by a recent finding that demanding exercise routines are not needed to reap the life-saving benefits of physical activity. Apparently you don't have to run marathons or even minimarathons to be fit. According to the new study of 17,000 Harvard alumni, a brisk three-mile ''daily constitutional'' should do the trick. The study found that men who participated in moderate activity, such as walking, climbing stairs and sports that used 2,000 or more calories a week, had death rates one-quarter to one-third lower than their sedentary counterparts. The life-saving benefits of exercise peaked at expenditures of 3,500 calories a week, beyond which there was, in some cases, a slight detrimental effect.

TWO sizzling nightspots in town -Sugar Reef and Bayamo - are among the restaurants that serve that tropical smorgasbord collectively known as Caribbean food. Both offer island specialties such as barbecued shrimp wrapped in banana leaves, conch fritters and peppery jerk chicken. A third restaurant, the palmy West Village spot called Caribe, offers everything from Jamaican-style curried goat to Barbados codfish stew with tomatoes and onions. Rounding out the island fare are Victor's Cafe 52, a Cuban restaurant in midtown, Sabor in the West Village and two-year-old Provecho's on West 17th Street, and the abundance of storefront Cuban and Puerto Rican restaurants around town.