POWELL TO MEET WITH MEXICO'S CASTANEDA IN U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet Mexico's
foreign minister in Washington on Tuesday to prepare for President George
W. Bush (news - web sites)'s first foreign trip next month, a spokesman
said on Monday.

``It's going to be a visit to talk about the subjects and the preparations
for the president's trip to Mexico,'' State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher told a news briefing a day ahead of Powell's meeting with Mexican
Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda.

Castaneda will also meet Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
on Tuesday to coordinate the February meeting, the White House said.

Boucher said Powell was looking forward to establishing a good working
relationship with the Mexican minister and that they expected to meet
frequently. He declined to go into details about what subjects they would
discuss, saying their main focus would be the presidential trip scheduled
for Feb. 16.

``But I think, obviously, there are subjects that are of interest to both
sides that may come up as well,'' he added.

One issue of concern to Mexico and other Latin American countries is
Washington's annual process of ``certification'' whereby the administration
rules in March whether 26 major drug-producing or drug-transit countries
are cooperating in the fight against the illegal trade.

Countries that are judged to be failing in the drug war can be punished
through economic sanctions.

Mexico, as the transit point for more than half the Colombian cocaine
consumed in the United States, is a focal point of debates on this issue.

Mexican President Vicente Fox was quoted in El Universal newspaper on
Monday as saying he would ask Bush to scrap the certification process.

Critics say decertification unfairly penalizes Latin American nations for
failing to halt the production of illegal drugs while the United States
goes unpunished for its failure to curb drug use.

Last March the Clinton administration endorsed anti-drug efforts by
Colombia and Mexico but ruled Afghanistan and Myanmar ineligible for most
forms of U.S. aid.