[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S1428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SEANTE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 13--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS WITH 
 RESPECT TO THE UPCOMING TRIP OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH TO MEXICO TO 
MEET WITH THE NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX, AND WITH RESPECT TO 
    FUTURE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO

  Mr. DeWINE (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Dodd, Mr. McCain, Mr. Lott, 
Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Breaux, Mr. L. Chafee, Mr. Voinovich, 
and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
considered and agreed to.

                            S. Con. Res. 13

       Whereas Vicente Fox Quesada of the Alliance for Change 
     (consisting of the National Action Party and the Mexican 
     Green Party) was sworn in as President of the United Mexican 
     States on December 1, 2000, the first opposition candidate to 
     be elected president in Mexico in seven decades;
       Whereas the United States, as Mexico's neighbor, ally, and 
     partner in the Hemisphere, has a strong interest in seeing 
     President Fox advance prosperity and democracy during his 
     term of office;
       Whereas President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox 
     have demonstrated their mutual willingness to forge a deeper 
     alliance between the United States and Mexico by making 
     President Bush's first foreign trip as President of the 
     United States to Mexico on February 16, 2001;
       Whereas both presidents recognize that a strong, steady 
     Mexican economy can be the foundation to help solve many of 
     the challenges shared by the two countries, such as 
     immigration, environmental quality, organized crime, 
     corruption and trafficking in illicit narcotics;
       Whereas the economic cooperation spearheaded by the North 
     American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has established Mexico 
     as the second largest trading partner of the United States, 
     with a two-way trade of $174,000,000,000 each year;
       Whereas the North American Development Bank and its sister 
     institution, the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, 
     were established to promote environmental infrastructure 
     development that meets the needs of border communities;
       Whereas the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an 
     independent self-sustaining United States Government agency 
     responsible for facilitating the investment of United States 
     private sector capital in emerging markets, has recently 
     developed a small business-financing program to support 
     United States investment in Mexico;
       Whereas under the North American Free Trade Agreement the 
     United States currently has an annual limit on the number of 
     visas that may be issued to Mexican business executives for 
     entry into the United States but there is no such limit with 
     respect to the Canadian business executives;
       Whereas United States-Mexico border tensions have continued 
     to escalate, with the number of illegal migrant deaths 
     increasing 400 percent since the mid 1990s; and
       Whereas the Government of Mexico, through the establishment 
     of a special cabinet commission, has made a renewed 
     commitment, with increased resources, to combat drug 
     trafficking and corruption: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the 
     President should work with the Government of Mexico to 
     advance bilateral cooperation and should, among other 
     initiatives, seek to--
       (1) encourage economic growth and development to benefit 
     both the United States and Mexico, including developing a 
     common strategy to improve the flow of credit and United 
     States investment opportunities in Mexico, as well as 
     increasing funding of entrepreneurial programs of all sizes, 
     from micro- to large-scale enterprises;
       (2) strengthen cooperation between the United States and 
     Mexican military and law enforcement entities for the purpose 
     of addressing common threats to the security of the two 
     countries, including illegal drug trafficking, illegal 
     immigration, and money laundering;
       (3) upon the request of President Fox--
       (A) provide assistance to Mexico in support of President 
     Fox's plan to reform Mexico's entire judicial system and 
     combat inherent corruption within Mexico's law enforcement 
     system; and
       (B) provide assistance to the Government of Mexico to 
     strengthen the institutions that are integral to democracy;
       (4) develop a common strategy to address undocumented and 
     documented immigration between the United States and Mexico 
     through increased cooperation, coordination, and economic 
     development programs;
       (5) develop a common strategy for fighting the illicit drug 
     trade by reducing the demand for illicit drugs through 
     intensification of anti-drug information and education, 
     improvement of intelligence sharing and the coordination of 
     counterdrug activities, and increasing maritime and logistics 
     cooperation to improve the respective capacities of the two 
     countries to disrupt drug shipments by land, air, and sea;
       (6) encourage bilateral and multilateral environmental 
     protection activities with Mexico, including strengthening 
     the North American Development Bank (NADbank) so as to 
     facilitate expansion of the Bank;
       (7) obtain the support of the Government of Mexico to 
     assist the Government of Colombia in achieving a peaceful 
     political resolution to the conflict in Colombia; and
       (8) review the current illicit drug certification process, 
     and should seek to be open to consideration of other 
     evaluation mechanisms that would promote increased 
     cooperation and effectiveness in combating the illicit drug 
     trade.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this concurrent resolution to the President.

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