USMEXICAN PRISONER PACT CLOSER THAN DRUG PLAN

By Anthony Boadle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) Mexico and the United States will sign a
temporaryextradition agreement Thursday during a 36hour working visit to
Washington by Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

But a blueprint for a joint strategy to stop drugs from flowing into the
United States from Mexico, the key issue on Zedillo's agenda with President
Bill Clinton, will not be ready until the end of the year.

``A progress report is the most we will get from this visit,'' newly
arrived Mexican Ambassador Jesus Reyes Heroles told reporters.

Zedillo will meet with Clinton at the White House Friday for a work session
with Cabinet ministers. U.S. officials said they would discuss law
enforcement, migration, trade and environmental issues.

``They want to discuss ways we can deepen cooperation on our effort to
fight narcotics trafficking,'' White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.

Clinton will praise Zedillo for Mexico's economic strength and its recovery
from the 199495 peso crisis, thanks to ``very courageous steps'' taken by
the government, McCurry said.

Reyes said Mexico's economy would grow 6.5 percent this year, compared with
the 6.2 percent shrinkage it suffered in 1995, when Zedillo last visited
the White House.

Attorney General Janet Reno and her Mexican counterpart, Jorge Madrazo,
will sign a protocol adding loans of prisoners to the extradition treaty
that exists between the two countries.

The protocol will allow convicted criminals to be extradited to stand trial
in the other country and then returned to serve their sentences,
eliminating a major irritant between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement
authorities.

Friday, Zedillo and Clinton will go to the headquarters of the Organization
of American States for the signing of an interAmerican convention against
illicit trafficking in firearms sponsored by Mexico, which complains that
many weapons used by its criminals come from the United States.