BUSH, FOX PLEDGE PARTNERSHIP ON IMMIGRATION, DRUG ISSUES

But Trip Shadowed By Attacks On Iraq

SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico - In a folksy meeting with a fellow world leader and
rancher, President Bush paid a visit yesterday to President Vicente Fox of
Mexico, during which both men pledged to work as partners on such issues as
immigration, drug trafficking and energy.

The two presidents met for several hours on Fox's sprawling ranch here, in
cowboy boots without jackets or ties. They reached no specific agreements,
but both men spoke warmly of their plans for cooperation and of their
nations' common hopes.

"Geography has made us neighbors," Bush said. "Cooperation and respect will
make us partners. And the promise of the partnership was renewed and
reinvigorated today."

Bush's first foreign trip as president was upstaged by air attacks on radar
installations in Iraq carried out yesterday by U.S. and British warplanes.
Bush tried to play down the strikes, which he authorized Thursday, saying
they were part of routine enforcement of the "no-fly" zones in Iraq.

But as he stood alongside Fox on the lawn of the ranch, Bush was peppered
with questions from reporters about the attack, clearly diverting attention
from the summit. Even Fox was asked whether the attack had cast a shadow
over the meeting. Trying to put the focus back on the summit, Fox said, "We
are full of confidence that we can see the future with a more optimistic
approach as of today's meeting."

Still, U.S. and Mexican officials portrayed the meeting as an incremental
step toward eventually rewriting polices that affect both countries. Bush
expressed particular willingness to work jointly in stemming the flow of
drugs. That has been an issue that raised tensions in the past when the
United States lectured Mexico on its failure to aggressively pursue
drug-traffickers.

Yesterday, Bush struck a more sympathetic tone, saying: "The main reason
why drugs are shipped through Mexico to the United States is because United
States citizens use drugs. And our nation must do a better job of educating
our citizenry about the dangers and evils of drug use."

The two presidents also directed their Cabinets to hold formal discussions
on immigration policy. The goals will include providing better conditions
for Mexican migrant workers in the United States.

Fox and Bush released a joint statement, saying, "There should be an
orderly framework for migration which ensures humane treatment, legal
security and dignified labor conditions."

Fox has called for the United States to relax its immigration laws to allow
Mexican laborers to cross the border, find jobs and perhaps gain permanent
residence.

'Significant change' Kevin Middlebrook, director of the Center for
U.S.-Mexican studies at the University of California at San Diego, said
that the agreement to work closely together on immigration marks a major
step forward, given that the two countries avoided the topic as the 1993
North American Free Trade Agreement was being brokered.

"Even though they're just at a study level, it's a significant change,"
Middlebrook said.

The Mexican president said that "this is not a meeting in which decisions
or details are going to be reached" but added that "certainly there is a
new attitude; there is a new way of approaching things, much more positive
approach to things on this issue of migration."

Creating a democracy Fox is laboring to fashion Mexico as a true democracy
that can be a leading voice on the world stage. When Fox became president
in December, he ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary
Party.

During the one-party government, Mexico was often devastated by government
corruption, and in part for that reason, had trouble building credibility
and good will among leading democracies.

In discussing drugs yesterday, Bush said the new Mexican president should
be given the chance to work as a dutiful partner in cracking down on
drug-trafficking before the United States considers apportioning blame.

"I trust your president," Bush said. "He's the kind of man you can look in
the eye and know he's shooting straight with you."

Bush has a chance to make good on that statement. Congress is considering
whether to exempt Mexico from drug "certification," a process whereby the
U.S. government determines whether a nation is enforcing anti-drug laws
satisfactorily. Mexico considers the process humiliating, and Fox wants it
ended.

Bush has not taken a position, saying he wants to study the issue. But his
comments about giving Fox leeway to advance his policies could be a hint
that he may be ready to see the certification process erased for Mexico.

The two presidents also discussed how their nations could work together to
deal with energy shortages in both countries.

Experts have said the best hope will be for the presidents to agree to let
private U.S. companies invest in the state-controlled energy industry in
Mexico to boost output. No decisions were announced at the summit.

Partners and friends Aside from specific policy, both nations celebrated
yesterday as an achievement in the fashioning of Fox and Bush as partners
and friends who regard one another with respect.

The presidents strived to show their close relationship. Upon arriving in
Mexico, Bush stopped in San Cristobal, near Fox's ranch, to greet Fox's
mother at her hacienda. "You look great," he told the gray-haired woman,
seated on a couch on her back patio.

As soon as Bush and Fox arrived at the ranch, they shed their jackets, ties
and formality. They spent the rest of the day wearing cowboy boots,
loosened collars and gleaming cowboy-style belt buckles. At one point, Bush
stopped to pet Fox's horse.

Fox said he wanted Bush to consider the ranch "his house," and, speaking
for a few moments in English, said: "President, you know that we consider
you a friend of Mexico, a friend of Mexican people, and a friend of mine."

Warm welcome There seemed to be a mood of pride yesterday in this area of
Mexico, two hours north of Mexico City, that an American president had put
so much stock in his relationship with their president, visiting here
before any other country.

As the motorcade carrying both presidents traveled 30 miles from the
airport outside the city of Leon to San Cristobal, the route was lined with
placards showing flags of both countries and a depiction of two hands
joined. Many stood alongside the road, waving American and Mexican flags.

One service station hung a sign that read, with exuberance if not perfect
accuracy, "The staff at this gas station welcomes U.S.A. President George
G. W. Bush."

Fox and Bush seemed relaxed and in high spirits throughout the day, even
after reports about Iraq surfaced. Bush was asked if he likes broccoli.
(His father is known to hate the vegetable.) The issue arose because Fox
has a broccoli garden on his ranch.

Bush first gave a "so-so" sign with his hands, but then pointed his thumb
downward.

"Make it cauliflower," Bush said, offering a thumbs-up.

In a sign that the Bush-Fox friendship may endure, Fox grows cauliflower on
his ranch, too.