CHRETIEN VOWS DEAL TO CURB DRUGS

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien yesterday vowed a new
free-trade deal covering North, South and Central America will "curb the
scourge of illegal drugs."

In wrapping up the weekend Summit of the Americas, which officially
launched negotiations to create a $10-trillion free-trade zone for 800
million people from Canada to Argentina, Chretien said Canada was at the
forefront of initiating a concrete plan to stop the havoc wreaked by
illegal drug use in the Western Hemisphere.

"We want to work in very close collaboration to make sure that the
production and the consumption of drugs will go down in all parts of the
Americas because it is a disease that is hurting a lot of people," Chretien
said during the final session of Summit talks.

AGREEMENT

"Everybody has agreed to work very closely to try to improve the situation."

Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy will lead a group of foreign
ministers from the 34 countries which will comprise the free-trade zone to
study the problem and come up with "long-term solutions."

He said he wants to zero in on all angles of the problem -- the countries
that produce drugs, those which transport them and the ones that consume
drugs.

"This kind of impact goes far beyond being simply a question of supply and
demand," said Axworthy.

The leaders also agreed to make education a top priority as nearly half of
the kids in Latin American countries, excluding those in the Caribbean, are
currently not attending any school. About 50% of the population in the
southern hemisphere is under the age of 16.

Chilean President Eduardo Frei told the Summit that the leaders agreed that
by the year 2010 they will have plans in place to ensure all children in
the Americas will begin and stay in elementary school and at least 75% of
youth will complete a secondary education.

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