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Thursday, 21 March, 2002
Bush, Fox, Chretien Discuss Trade, Security Issues at UN
Summit
VOA
News 22
Mar 2002
 
President Bush
has met with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts on the sidelines of a United
Nations-sponsored summit on development aid in Monterrey, Mexico, to discuss
key North American issues.
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| AP |
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| Mexican President Vicente Fox, left, greets Canadian Premier Jean
Chretien |
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The White House
says Mr. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien discussed border security, energy policy and trade. They particularly
focused on the success of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and
the general need to expand trade throughout the hemisphere.
The United States,
Mexico and Canada signed NAFTA in 1994. The treaty links the three nations'
economies.
A White House
spokesman says the leaders also discussed expanding sources of energy such as
natural gas among their three nations and efforts to improve border security
without impeding the flow of commerce and legitimate
travel.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bush
is scheduled to address the summit Friday. He is expected to encourage his
fellow leaders to embrace his newly proposed $10 billion foreign aid policy,
which would benefit nations that implement political and economic
reforms.
President Bush
next travels to Peru on Saturday and El Salvador on Sunday before ending his
Latin American tour.
Mr. Bush is to
meet with Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and the leaders of Colombia,
Bolivia and Ecuador in Lima under extremely tight security. President Bush is
to arrive in the Peruvian capital just three days after a deadly car bomb
exploded near the U.S. embassy, killing nine people.
President
Toledo cut short his trip to the U.N. conference in Mexico on Thursday because
of the attack. Authorities suspect Peru's Maoist Shining Path rebels are behind
the bombing.
Some information
for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
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