BUSH TO TALK ABOUT ENERGY, RENEW TIES TO MEXICAN LEADER

President Bush will use a meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox today
to suggest ways to increase electricity production through U.S. investments
in Mexican companies, and plans to discuss the possibility of changing an
annual evaluation of Mexico's war on drugs, administration officials said.

Mexican officials said the most substantive development likely to emerge
from the meeting is an agreement to study ways to make it easier for
Mexicans to legally get temporary work in the United States. Cabinet
members from both countries are likely to be involved, a White House
official said.

Much of Bush's first foreign trip will be devoted to renewing his
friendship with Fox, a fellow rancher, now that both are newly inaugurated
presidents.

"Some look south and see problems," Bush said yesterday, offering a preview
of his trip during a visit to the State Department. "Not me. I look south
and see opportunities and potential."

Bush told the Foggy Bottom audience he plans to refocus U.S. foreign policy
on the Americas and to "work with our neighbors to build a Western
Hemisphere of freedom and prosperity -- a hemisphere bound together by
shared ideals and free trade."

"Our future cannot be separated from the future of our neighbors in Canada
and Latin America," he said.

With the California electricity shortage weighing on him, aides said Bush
is hoping to lead the development of a hemispheric energy policy that will
foster the flow of oil and electricity among the United States, Mexico and
Canada.

He faces several obstacles, including the Mexican constitution, which gives
government control of most energy resources and restricts foreign
involvement in their development.

During an eight-hour visit, Bush plans to suggest ways the two countries
can cooperate in extracting Mexican oil and gas so that both economies can
benefit. Bush wants U.S. energy companies to be able to provide capital
that will enable Mexican power companies to build new plants and
transmission lines, vastly increasing the amount of electricity available
for export.

"The president has some ideas," a senior administration official said. "The
common goal here is that we be able to ensure a supply of energy resources
for both sides."

Fox said during a chat yesterday on the Web site of The Washington Post,
washingtonpost.com, that he favors further trade in electricity between the
countries. "We have 13 crossing points where we trade power both ways," Fox
said. "We must go much further, and this is one of the issues that we will
talk about with President Bush -- the initiative of an energy policy for
North America."

The annual U.S. evaluation of anti-narcotics efforts, known as
certification, has long been an irritant to Mexico. Under a 1961 law, U.S.
sanctions can be imposed if a drug-producing nation fails certification.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush is willing to consider
changes that would enhance the countries' relationship but still fight drugs.

"There are some questions that have been raised on Capitol Hill about
whether the current certification regime is indeed the most appropriate
way," Fleischer said. "Those concerns on the Hill are bipartisan. So the
president is going to listen to ideas that come from the Hill."

Fox is expected to push his proposal that the United States grant amnesty
to illegal immigrants from Mexico, which Bush does not support. But the
senior administration official said Bush is still willing to discuss
alternative solutions. The official said Bush believes that borders must be
enforced, "but enforced both humanely and in a modern way."

The visit allows Bush to wade into foreign policy on friendly personal and
geographic territory. Bush and Fox met several times as governors, and with
the shared Mexico-Texas border, Bush became familiar with immigration issues.

Fox is fluent in English. Bush speaks some Spanish, but does not consider
himself fluent.

Bush will begin by visiting Fox's mother, Mercedes Quesada, who lives in a
hacienda on Fox's ranch in San Cristobal. "Family is very important to
President Bush, and I think it is an extremely touching gesture by
President Fox to want the president to meet his mother," said the senior
administration official, who provided a briefing about the Mexico trip at
the White House.

After the visit with Fox's mother, the two presidents will head for th
ranch's main house for a three-hour session that will include a tour
(Mexican officials hope Bush will ride a horse) and a meeting with just a
few advisers present.

"You may all want to get accustomed to a more informal style," the
administration official said, adding that Bush values "the ability to
really sit in a room without large delegations and talk as leaders."

After the meeting, at about 3:40 p.m. Eastern time, the two are scheduled
to hold a news conference near a giant broccoli field.

Correspondent Kevin Sullivan in Mexico City contributed to this report.