AMID CHEERS, CLINTON MEETS ZEDILLO

MERIDA, Mexico, Feb. 15 (UPI) - President Clinton, welcomed warmly to
the Yucatan Peninsula by thousands of flag-waving Mexicans, planned
today to join President Ernesto Zedillo in top-level consultations
focusing on trade and narcotics.

In the latest in a planned semiannual series of U.S.-Mexico summits,
Clinton and Zedillo were set to cover a broad range of matters in
cross-border relations while several Cabinet-level U.S. officials and
some two dozen members of Congress do much the same with their Mexican
counterparts.

Among his new tools to help the Mexican economy, Clinton was expected
to announce a $4 billion line of credit from the Export-Import Bank to
help Mexican businesses purchase U.S. goods and services.

And in what has become a regular feature of Clinton's visits overseas,
the administration planned to approve a civil aviation free-trade
agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. and Mexican
airlines.

Additional agreements were expected to help Mexico reduce deaths among
its migrant workers, provide it $1.2 million to prevent outdoor fires,
train its new federal police force, battle tuberculosis, and help
countries in Central American recover from Hurricane Mitch.

Talks also were expected to cover cross-border cooperation against
trafficking in human beings, coordinated action against global
warming, improved wastewater treatment in border communities, better
warnings for U.S. citizens of Mexican gun laws, and better protections
for endangered species, particularly dolphins.

The two presidents also were expected to discuss Clinton's upcoming
decision March 1 on whether to add Mexico this year to the small list
of countries deemed to be not cooperating in the fight against drugs.

In a predictable repeat of the debate over recent years, Clinton is
likely to renew his certification of Mexico's drug-fighting efforts,
and face criticisms from lawmakers who disagree and from Mexicans
offended by the process.

Zedillo planned to host Clinton for their talks at a hacienda outside
Merida owned by Roberto Hernandez, a banker who during Mexico's last
presidential race catered a fund-raiser at which Mexican billionaires
each were asked to contribute $25 million to Zedillo's governing party.

The president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in an
apparently upbeat mood Sunday from Washington, where Clinton on Friday
was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial following more than a
year of efforts by his Republican opponents to punish him for his
handling of an extramarital affair.

After receiving a red-carpet welcome from Zedillo upon his arrival
early Sunday evening in Merida, he was treated along his motorcade
route to thousands of cheering Mexicans waving U.S. and Mexican flags
and holding up pre-printed placards depicting Clinton standing
alongside Zedillo.

On the flight down, the first couple cut a rare picture of happy
togetherness, walking in tandem throughout the presidential jet
handing out Valentine's Day wishes and chocolates from a large
heart-shaped box.

The Clintons traveled first to a reception for their entire delegation
in downtown Merida, then joined Zedillo and his wife Nilda for a
private dinner.

The White House originally planned the visit as part of a larger trip
that included stops in Central America, but postponed all but the
Mexico portion until next month to allow Clinton to remain in
Washington during the conclusion of the impeachment trial.

The abbreviated schedule, which concludes this evening with Clinton's
return to Washington, left little time for touring Merida's tree-lined
boulevards and spectacular colonial mansions, and no time to get out
of town to see the nearby Mayan ruins of Uxmal and
Chichen-Itza.

The U.S. government also asked the Mexicans to cancel a joint news
conference with Zedillo, which until the impeachment threat had for
Clinton been a regular part of his meetings with foreign heads of state.

The advisers scheduled to accompany Clinton include Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, who was headed to Mexico from peace talks in
France aimed at ending the fighting in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Others Cabinet-level advisers on the trip include Attorney General
Janet Reno, Energy Secretary William Richardson and drug czar Barry
McCaffrey.