HARPER PLEDGES TO AID MEXICO IN DRUG WAR

Security a Priority at Two-Day Summit

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday that Canada will train
Mexican police officers to assist Mexico in its brutal war against
rival drug cartels.

The announcement came as the prime minister touched down here for a
two-day summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.S.
President Barack Obama.

Security will be one of the issues on the agenda at the summit, along
with the global recession, the swine-flu outbreak and climate change.

Through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program, Canada will invest
as much as $15 million a year in projects across the Americas that
combat the illicit drug trade, corruption, human trafficking and other
regional problems.

Slightly more than $430,000 will go to Mexico to help it fight its
drug war, which claimed more than 6,000 people last year, almost
double the number of deaths in the previous year.

Global drug cartels in Mexico have been feuding over access to the
lucrative North American market. The U.S. State Department, for
example, estimates that 90 per cent of the cocaine that enters the
U.S. flows through Mexico.

Calderon has staked his presidency on his government's aggressive
response, vowing to defeat the cartels by the time his term ends in
2012. After taking office in late 2006, Calderon sent thousands of
troops to back up the police in drug hot spots.

Under the program announced Sunday, the RCMP will train 300 mid-level
Mexican police officers with the help of the United States and other
countries. The Mounties will also train 32 new police commanders in
such areas as police management, investigation and intelligence skills.

Harper met with Calderon in a bilateral meeting Sunday, where the most
contentious topic between the two was expected to be Ottawa's recent
decision to impose visas on Mexican nationals entering Canada.

Mexican sources said Calderon was to press Harper to drop the visa
restrictions, but at a spokesman for the prime minister has said that
did not appear to be in the cards.