MEXICO ANNOUNCE JOINT DRUG-FIGHTING PLAN

WASHINGTON - The U.S. and Mexico on Friday unveiled a comprehensive drug
fighting strategy that promises closer cooperation on firearms
trafficking,extradition of druglords and intelligence gathering.

It was released less than a month before the Clinton administration is
scheduled to decide whether to renew Mexico's certification as a
cooperative partner in the anti-drug war.

The strategy is aimed at reducing the $50 billion flood of illegal drugs
purchased in the united States each year,much arriving across the
2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

White House drug-policy director Barry McCaffrey said the next goal is for
the two governments to agree on performance standards to assess the success
of drug-fighting efforts.

The new cooperation outlined Friday will range from sharing gun-tracing
techniques and intelligence to holding a first-ever joint conference on
drug addiction and treatment in El Paso,Texas, in March.

The two countries also agreed to negotiate a pact to allow druglords wanted
in both countries to be tried in each country before completing their
sentence in either country.

The United States agreed to reduce the length of export gun licenses from
four years to one year. The change would give law-enforcement officials
more opportunities to challenge licensees who are linked to drug
trafficking, a government spokesman for McCaffrey said.

The 41 page strategy is based on 16 goals that President Clinton and
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo agreed on in May.

The agreement would result in real improvement in law-enforcement
operations, McCaffrey said. "If we see something in Mexican airspace,we
ought to let Mexico know about it. That's the kind of thing we're going to
do," he said.

Mexican authorities simultaneously announced the agreement in Mexico City.