[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 13 (Monday, April 3, 2006)]
[Pages 611-619]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Vicente Fox of Mexico and 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada in Cancun

March 31, 2006

    President Fox. Good morning. Welcome for your interest and your 
presence and attendance. We have come to an end in this productive 
meeting, as you well know, with bilateral meetings yesterday and today a 
trilateral meeting, a very productive one, followed by an enlarged 
meeting, trilateral-wise, with the attendance of the entrepreneurial 
community, business, and investment of our three countries. 
Consequently, we will give you full information.
    I would like to ask the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, to 
make some comments.
    Prime Minister Harper. Thank you. Thank you, President Fox, and 
ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank President Fox first of all. It 
was a pleasure to meet President Fox and President Bush to discuss 
issues of importance to our countries and our common will to work 
together.
    In North America, we have an economy that is integrated; it is not 
necessary to differentiate our products. And we have discussed the 
progress accomplished in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of 
North America, and we are committed to considering the private sector. 
First of all, we believe that it is an engine of competitiveness, made 
up of members of the private sector, that will allow us to make our 
economies even more competitive.
    Our ministers will be working on this. They will be identifying our 
priorities, and they will make sure that they are followed up. We will 
be cooperating on issues of importance--on border security, management 
of urgent situations, as well as energy security. We will prepare a 
coordinated and exhaustive way to approach the issues of the bird flu, 
and we will be guided by common principles. Over the course of the next 
few months, we will be doing everything possible to ensure the security 
along our borders and to be able to move our merchandise back and forth. 
We will be working in the area of energy, the area of research and 
innovation, to be able to deal with clean technologies.
    We are happy with the discussions of our trade ministers on 
cooperation and of the negotiation of our countries, and we encourage 
them to follow up with this work.
    This meeting has been extremely productive. And Presidents Bush and 
Fox have accepted my invitation for the next summit

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meeting, which will take place in Canada in 2007.

[At this point, Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]

    ----grateful for our host, President Fox, and to the workers here at 
the hotel and the Mexican people for their warm hospitality.
    Over the past 2 days, I've had the pleasure of meeting with 
President Fox and President Bush to discuss issues that jointly affect 
our three nations. I've been encouraged by the common will of our three 
nations. We are living today in an integrated economy. We cannot afford 
the politics of isolation.
    During my meetings with Presidents Bush and Fox, we reviewed the 
progress of our Security and Prosperity Partnership, which provides a 
framework to advance the common interests in areas of security, 
prosperity, and quality of life.
    We committed to further engage the private sector. We've agreed to 
set up a North American Competitiveness Council, made up of business 
leaders from all three countries, to advise us on ways to improve the 
competitiveness of our economies. They will meet with our ministers, 
identify priorities, and make sure we follow up and implement them.
    We agreed to expand our existing cooperation on key issues such as 
border security, emergency management, and energy security. As an 
immediate priority, we'll develop a coordinated and comprehensive 
approach to preparing for a possible avian or pandemic influenza 
outbreak in North America. Our action will be guided by shared 
principles. We'll take concrete steps in the coming 24 months to improve 
the security at our borders and to ensure the smooth and efficient flow 
of goods and people, particularly--particular discussions with President 
Bush on the Windsor-Detroit Corridor.
    We'll collaborate on energy, especially with respect to innovation 
and science and technology, with the focus on clean technologies. We 
also welcome the discussions--the recent discussions by our trade 
ministers on NAFTA collaboration on trade negotiations with third 
countries. And we urge that this work be given priority.
    These talks were productive. And I'm, of course, very pleased that 
President Bush and President Fox have accepted my invitation to have the 
next leaders' meeting in Canada in 2007.
    Thank you.
    President Fox. President Bush.
    President Bush. Thank you for your hospitality. It's a really good 
choice to pick Cancun--as my press corps will tell you. They're looking 
forward to staying by the pool after I leave. [Laughter] It's a 
beautiful--beautiful part of the country.
    I want to thank you for your friendship as well. It's been a joy 
discussing very important issues with you over the course of my 
Presidency. And this is probably one of the most productive meetings 
we've had. It's been a pleasure to meet with Prime Minister Harper in 
his official capacity as the Prime Minister of Canada. I find him to be 
a very open, straightforward fellow. If he's got a problem, he's willing 
to express it in a way that's clear for all to understand. And that's 
the way I like to deal with people.
    We've got big goals for this very important relationship. One goal 
is prosperity. You can't achieve a standard of living increase for your 
people unless you have a prosperous neighborhood, and it's this 
prosperity that has been much of a focus on NAFTA. And one of my vows, 
and I know the other leaders share this goal, is to make sure that 
people are able to connect the NAFTA relationship with improvement of 
their own quality of life.
    I know there's deep concern about social justice throughout the 
neighborhood, and social justice can be achieved more likely if people 
are able to realize their dreams and if there's a prosperous society. 
And prosperity has been increased as a result of the trade between our 
nations. And we want to make sure that trade continues in a way that's 
fair and free but also in a way that enables our countries to be able to 
compete with the great challenges we face.
    And we face prosperity challenges from abroad like never before--the 
challenge of a growing Chinese economy or the challenge of an Indian 
economy. And my attitude is, we shouldn't fear these challenges; we 
ought to welcome them and position ourselves so that we can compete. And 
I think the leaders

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share that sense of unity when it comes to being a competitive part of 
the world in the future.
    We talked about security. Look, we got long borders, and we got to 
make sure we work hard to secure the borders. We also have got to make 
sure we got smart borders. And so the whole vision of our borders has 
got to be to enhance trade and tourism but to prevent smugglers and 
terrorists and dope runners from polluting our countries. And I'm 
confident, with the use of technology and by close collaboration, we'll 
be able to achieve those objectives.
    I want to thank the CEOs and the business leaders from the three 
countries who are here. I thought we had a very constructive discussion 
about ways to make sure that there is harmonization between our 
industries so that the people benefit. And they brought some really good 
ideas.
    We talked about, of course, bird flu, avian flu, and the need to be 
prepared in case there is an outbreak. We spend a lot of time in my own 
country preparing for an avian flu outbreak, strategizing as how to 
coordinate efforts between the Federal, State, and local governments; 
working to wisely spend money to come up with, hopefully, a vaccine that 
would then be available for sharing around the world. And I do want to 
thank Canada for having taken the lead early in this issue and preparing 
the world for what is possible so that there's good information sharing 
if the bird flu were to break out in Southeast Asia, for example. But my 
point is, it's very important for us to share information and data and 
strategies amongst our three countries so that if this were to happen, 
there is a focused, coordinated, intelligent response.
    We talked about energy. My view of the energy initiative is that 
we've got to be wise about the resources we have and be smart about the 
investment for research and development so we can change our energy 
habits. The truth of the matter is, we'll all be better off if we use 
alternative sources of energy like ethanol or explore how to use hybrid 
batteries in a better way. I mean, there's some really interesting 
things coming down the pike, and I look forward to not only leading my 
own nation to spend money to be on the leading edge of technological 
change when it comes to energy but also sharing those technologies and 
ideas with our counterparts. Because we want to make sure that we've got 
national security concerns addressed when it comes to energy; we also 
want to be good stewards of the environment--and we can do both by the 
use of proper technologies.
    It's been a good meeting. I want to thank you for your leadership. I 
like coming to meetings where people put things on the table and we try 
to come up with solutions. And this has been such a meeting, Mr. 
President. Good job. Es todo.
    President Fox. Thank you. Thank you so much. Undoubtedly, these two 
days have brought about spaces for meeting of both friends and partners, 
and undoubtedly, we have made a very good use of time.
    The visit to Chichen-Itza was excellent, as well as yesterday 
evening's dinner, in a relaxed atmosphere but, likewise, creating this 
association and making a very productive association. Equally important 
were the different working meetings.
    We took advantage of time, we were not working isolated. We touched 
upon fundamental items in that meeting. First of all, we carried out an 
evaluation meeting. Then we got information about the development of 
programs. And then we gave the necessary instructions for the works that 
should be carried out in the next period of work.
    This is a most important thing and this association has become a 
dynamic and professional process, a constructive process, a short-term 
action process, and great vision and perspective in a long term. 
Consequently, we have concluded that institutionalizing all these 
mechanisms is of utmost importance so that they will have continuity, so 
that there will be a followup--a necessary followup, so that they will 
be fruitful both at a short, middle, and long term.
    So we have established the next meeting. The Prime Minister of 
Canada has suggested and has invited us to Canada. Next June, we shall 
have, let's say, an information, evaluation, and results study of the 
work of this association, this Security and Prosperity Partnership. And 
we have carried out a series

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of actions that should be integrated in this report.
    First of all, I would like to make clear what has been the results 
of 12 years of joint work in the Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. The three 
nations are fully satisfied of what we have been able to achieve. We 
have seen the fruits of work through this tool of cooperation, trade, 
and investment. Nonetheless, we're not fully satisfied. We have to give 
steps forward. We have many an opportunity and many a challenge.
    I want to mention two figures in reference to the results of NAFTA. 
Mexico has a commercial balance trade of $535 billion, the seventh in 
size throughout the world. And these would be a direct product of both 
trade and investment that has been carried out among the three partner 
countries. And then we should point out that every single State, border 
States with the United States had per capita income to December as of 
last year that go beyond to $10,000. The per capita average income has 
to do with $7,500--the highest in Latin America. Nonetheless, the 
borderline States are above $10,000 per capita income, and some of them 
have a per capita rate to $10,000.
    We're not talking about small numbers, small figures; we're talking 
about a concrete result of the efforts and work through trade. It is 
achieved through investment, and likewise, it is achieved through joint 
work, everybody's work. Behind all this, there's nothing else but work, 
work, and work.
    Now I would like to mention a couple of items in the goals. First, 
strengthen and maintain, growing, the Free Trade Agreement, first of 
all. Benefits are evident, but before the new reality of the 21st 
century, we have decided to give steps forward and strengthen the 
relationship. Now we have the alliance both for security and prosperity. 
One item is as important as the other--shared responsibility an 
important element--one as important as the other. And that is what the 
three countries think.
    We started with the constitution of the North American 
Competitiveness Council, so as to consider public and private policies--
face a challenge of our region. We want to institutionalize our 
mechanisms, have a clear project for the next month of June. It would 
imply mechanisms by means of which we will give the necessary importance 
and long-term action, something constant, and continuity should be 
achieved as well. That has been fruitful, and that can give very good 
results for our region. We are not renegotiating what has been 
successful or open the Free Trade Agreement. It's going beyond the 
agreement, both for prosperity and security.
    Summarizing, we have to increase competitiveness of our economies, 
of our companies, our enterprises, our structures, and likewise, our 
technological and educational levels so as to face competition of other 
blocs in the world. We have to homogenize normotivity standards so as to 
have common standards to facilitate jobs and productivity. We have to 
make borders much more modern with technology so as to guarantee 
security but the good flow of commodities and products. We have invested 
a good amount of time to logistics, efficiency and efficacy in customs, 
topics that have to do with sharing--sharing these efficiencies.
    We are totally aware that we require infrastructure studies in the 
borderline areas so as to analyze needs, to facilitate both trade and 
passage of people and goods. This is fundamental; security is 
fundamental for our future development. It is a problem and a challenge 
shared by the three countries. Migration can only be solved in that we 
agree upon under the framework of a legislation that will guarantee our 
legal order, safe and respectful migration, respecting the rights of 
people.
    We have spoken about the collaboration of the three countries to 
support development and generation of opportunities for Central American 
countries and the Caribbean-area countries. We have seen an excellent 
level of relationships, and these are giving steps forward. They're 
better and better.
    We have more points of coincidence amongst the three countries. I 
would like to thank the attendance, the presence, in this beautiful port 
of Cancun in this area of the Riviera Maya. You can see it is dynamic, a 
beautiful place, as it always has been. We receive millions of tourists 
every single year, people that come over, and we're proud to receive.

[[Page 615]]

    We want to thank President Bush; we want to thank Prime Minister 
Harper--my acknowledgment, my thanks, and my commitment. We shall be 
working together, no doubt about it, to give steps forward in the field 
of prosperity and security. May you have a happy return back home. Thank 
you.
    For the question-and-answer period, we have two questions for the 
journalists of each country.

Border Security/Trade

    Q. Good morning, Presidents and Prime Minister. President Fox, what 
are the concrete measures that Mexico is implementing to guarantee this 
indispensable security so as to have a legal, safe, and orderly 
migration?
    For President Bush and President Harper, do you consider that there 
should be a continuity on the economic policy in Mexico before the 
change of President in our country? Last but not least, how can the 
partners of NAFTA--can be competitive before the Asian countries if 
there are so many differences that are leading us to talk first about 
security, then productivity? And what are the unilateral decisions on 
migration matters? Thank you.
    President Fox. First, security. Many actions have been implemented. 
Many actions have to do with close cooperation with the security 
authorities with the United States. This effort, headed by the 
representative of Homeland Security, Mr. Chertoff, and Minister of the 
Interior here in Mexico, Mr. Abascal, and the cooperation based upon 
mutual trust, coresponsibility, and what has to do with security in the 
borders.
    Likewise, we're doing our own work in cases of homicides and crimes 
among the different Mafias, the drug cartels. We shall continue working 
on this. There's a presence of Federal forces in the main points in the 
border, and then a great commitment to win the battle against organized 
crime and drug trafficking, particularly in the city of Nuevo Laredo. We 
have programs such as Programma OASISS, OASISS Program, so as to attack 
the people that are trafficking with people, with migrants. And 
fortunately, there are more than 120 in jail. And then we have a 
permanent program, 24 hours a day, so as to achieve this.
    We are working in the inner part and in the southern part of the 
country to stop migration flows that come from Central America that are 
crossing illegally the southern border of Mexico. And with all due 
respect to the dignity of these people, respecting their human rights, 
they are stopped; they remain on temporary bases and stations. They 
offer them services with dignity, and then we send them back to their 
communities of origin; 240,000 people--people that were detained, and 
then they were sent back to Central America.
    We are working jointly with the Central American Governments. We 
have spoken about the fact that the decision of Mexico is not only 
assuming our responsibilities migration-wise, but we have a firm 
commitment of generating jobs and employment. We're working jointly with 
Central America so as to achieve this, so each country will absorb our 
commitment and our total commitment generating opportunities within our 
own countries.
    And so this program, like the energy initiative for Central America, 
is one that has the purpose of bringing development and growth to the 
Central American economies. Thus we're working on a broad spectrum on 
the issue of security in all of its facets.
    President Bush. I don't see how you can be prosperous if you don't 
have security. I mean, it's--if people are concerned that, for example, 
the towns along the border aren't secure, it's going to be difficult to 
keep prosperity alive. And so I appreciate the President's commitment to 
security along our border, and we've got--we share the same commitment. 
It's very important to enforce laws. Robust economy depend upon the rule 
of law, and therefore, when countries enforce law, it kind of creates 
the conditions for continued economic growth.
    When you have robust trade like we have, there are issues that come 
up. One way to look at it is, if we had no trade, there would be no 
issues. And the more issues there are and the more opportunities there 
are to discuss them, the likelier it is these economies will continue to 
grow. And so I don't--I don't worry about having to deal with problems. 
As a matter of fact, I view the problems that have arisen as a result of 
complex and active

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trade as positive. And the fundamental question is, can we resolve these 
issues in a responsible way? And one of the reasons we meet is to put 
ourselves in a position to do so.
    You mentioned something about the elections. I'm not going to talk 
about them. The only thing I am going to talk about is, I love to have a 
strong, vibrant democracy on our southern border. And I want to thank 
the President for his strong leadership and his recognition that 
democracy is a very important legacy of his administration, the previous 
administration, that we certainly hope there will be a peaceful 
transition of power, and I'm confident there will be one.
    Prime Minister Harper. Obviously, I don't want to get into the issue 
of Mexican politics, but I can say the same thing that I said yesterday 
with regard to the leadership of President Fox. We've had both bilateral 
and multilateral relationships progressively growing and without 
precedent. I trust that the President is going to leave a stronger 
economy that is shared, a firm democracy, respect for human rights, and 
faithfulness to the most important principles for our shared progress, 
for the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and all 
the good results that come from a free market economy.
    All of these things lead to more progress, which we hope the next 
President will be able to build upon, which will benefit all of our 
countries.

[Prime Minister Harper continued in English.]

    And I'll just repeat that I, obviously, do not intend to make any 
comments or get myself involved in Mexican politics, but I'll just 
repeat what I said yesterday, which is that President Fox has provided 
unprecedented leadership for both our bilateral and our trilateral 
relations, unprecedented progressive leadership.
    I believe that the legacy of that leadership will be to leave behind 
not just the strong democracy that believes in liberty and human rights 
but also loyalty and adherence to the principles that are--on which the 
success of our integrated economy is based. And those are the principles 
of NAFTA, the principles of our security and economic partnership, and, 
of course, the advantages of free markets from which all of our nations 
benefit.

Immigration Reform

    Q. Thank you. Mr. President, would you veto an immigration bill that 
did not include a guest-worker program? And how do you counter the angry 
argument from conservatives on Capitol Hill who are saying that your 
demand for one could hurt the Republican Party this fall?
    President Bush. The migration issue has been a topic of discussion 
here, as you can imagine. I told the President exactly what I told our 
country, that, one, I expect the debate to bring dignity to America, in 
recognition that America is a land of immigrants and people ought to be 
treated with respect; and this debate ought to be a debate that does not 
pit neighbor against neighbor; that focuses on three elements. One is 
that we are a nation of laws and therefore must enforce our laws. And 
that includes enforcing the laws of people coming into our country 
illegally.
    President Fox and I discussed this issue at length. I don't know if 
people recognize, but his Government, all aspects of the Mexican 
Government came together to send a clear message to the American people: 
The Mexican Government understands it has a responsibility as well, to 
protect the border. It is a nation of law. You heard the President talk 
about not only enforcing the northern border but also the southern 
border.
    I also have said to the American people that we must enforce our 
laws in the interior of the country. Employers must be held to account 
if they're employing the people in our country illegally. However, part 
of the problem is--that complicates the lives of our many employers who 
are providing employment for people who are here illegally, is that 
there has been a lot of document forgery. There's an industry that has 
sprung up, and part of that industry is to provide forged documents so 
that our employers don't know whether a person is in our country legally 
or not.
    I also believe strongly that an important part of securing the 
border and enforcing our laws is to recognize there are people in our

[[Page 617]]

country doing work that Americans will not do. And those people ought to 
be given a chance to have a tamper-proof card that enables them to work 
in our country legally for a period of time. That's called a guest-
worker program. One of the important issues about a guest-worker program 
is, what does that mean for someone's desire to become a citizen of our 
country? I believe if someone has been here in our country illegally, 
they should not get at the head of the line if they want to become a 
citizen. In other words, we have a line of people waiting, people who 
are in our country legally, waiting to become a citizen. And people who 
have been in our country illegally should not get ahead of the line who 
are there legally.
    A nation of laws can also be a welcoming nation, and I believe a 
guest-worker program will help us rid the society and the border of 
these coyotes who smuggle people in the back of 18-wheelers. I believe 
it will help get rid of the document forgers. I believe it will help 
people on both sides of our border respect the laws of our border and 
enforce our borders. I believe it is important to bring people out of 
the shadows of American society so they don't have to fear the life they 
live. I believe it's important for our Nation to uphold human rights and 
human dignity. And the plan I've just proposed is one that will do all 
that and achieve important objectives.
    And I'm looking forward to working with the Congress. We're making 
the--I told the President, we're making progress. You know, there's a 
legislative process. It's--some guy, some wag one time put it, it's like 
watching people make sausage. It's kind of a--you know, probably appears 
a little unpleasant from your perspective. [Laughter] But we're making 
progress. And I want a comprehensive bill. And I've made that very clear 
to the Members of the Congress, and I will continue making it clear to 
Members of Congress.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    President Bush. So, no answer--I said I want a comprehensive bill. 
You're presuming there won't be a comprehensive bill; I believe there 
will be a comprehensive bill.

Canada-U.S. Relations/Border Security

    Q. Mr. President, can you explain to Canadians----
    President Bush. Which one?
    Q. That would be you, Mr. Bush.
    President Bush. Me.
    Q. Could you explain to Canadians why they'll need to have a 
passport or an unspecified secure document before they cross over to the 
United States? And what would the impact be on both of our countries, 
economically, if Canada doesn't follow through by the deadline of the 
end of next year?
    President Bush. I appreciate you bringing up this issue. This is an 
issue, obviously, that affects not only border crossings with Canada; it 
also affects border crossings with Mexico. The Congress passed the law, 
and I intend to enforce the law. But the law said there ought to be a 
passport or a passport-like document that I believe, if properly 
implemented, will facilitate travel and facilitate trade, not hinder 
travel and trade. And the reason I believe that is, I think we can be 
wise about the use of technologies to--envision a card that can be 
swiped across a reading device that facilitates the movement of people.
    It's a--look, I understand this issue has created consternation. 
Your Prime Minister made it very clear to me that he's very worried that 
such a implementation of the law on the books will make it less likely 
people will want to travel between our countries. I've heard from 
business leaders who are concerned about the bookings for conventions. 
And so what I've told the Prime Minister and told President Fox, as 
well, is that we have an obligation to work very closely with our 
counterparts to provide a set of standards as to what will meet the 
obligations of the law.
    Again, I repeat to you, I believe this can be done in such a way 
that it makes future travel, future relations stronger, not weaker.
    Prime Minister Harper. Maybe I could just add to that. Obviously, we 
are concerned. I expressed those concerns to President Bush, and I know 
they've been expressed by Canadian business leaders as well. The 
President is confronted with legislation passed by Congress and has a 
responsibility

[[Page 618]]

to act upon that legislation, and we understand that. We understand the 
security concerns that are behind that.
    At the same time, we're obviously concerned that if we don't move 
quickly and properly on this, that this could have effects on trade and 
movement of people, conventions, you name it, that is not helpful to our 
economy or to relationships. So we've agreed that Minister Day and 
Secretary Chertoff will meet as soon as possible to make this their top 
priority.

Democracy in Mexico

    Q. Mr. President Fox, two questions. The first is, our Senate last 
night passed a law, and I'd like to know what you're going to do? Will 
you veto that law, or will you leave the legislative packet to the next 
President of our country? And second, you have spoken and you have 
warned us Mexicans against populism and the demagogues who exist in 
campaigns, in Presidential campaigns, and that we are going through a 
very difficult stage. I'd like to ask if you already forgot the populist 
language that you used in your own Presidential campaign when you even 
talked about--[inaudible]--and things like that? What about talking 
about democracy using a populist language in the past, but now you are 
against candidates doing that.
    President Fox. In reference to the first item, the Ministry of the 
Interior will inform, on behalf of the Federal Government, our position. 
And I celebrate--I'm glad that both the Congress, the lower chamber and 
the upper chamber, have exercised their autonomy, their freedom. They 
have discussed and approved one more of the many laws that have been 
approved in our country in this last 5 years of democratic and 
respectful Government--the autonomies and the independence on the other 
two powers. As never before, we have lived this reality that has been 
positive, fruitful, in reference to the application of our autonomy and 
constitutional freedom that all the other powers have.
    Now, in reference to the second item, I can only say--and I will say 
it very clearly--from the second of July and since the second of July of 
the year 2000, there has been absolute freedom, and that is of utmost 
importance for all of us. Every single person should express according 
to his own decision and convenience, by all means, respecting the rights 
of third parties. But above all this, we have the freedom of both 
Mexicans, ladies and gentlemen, that work in the mass media: press; 
newspapers; journals; TV. We have now a freedom that we never had in the 
past. Every single citizen in our country nowadays exercises this 
freedom openly. This is one of the great fruits and results of democracy 
won in the second of July of the year 2000.

Iran

    Q. President Bush, Secretary of State Rice is finding common ground 
with the British today on the view that the next step against Iran could 
be sanctions. Do you agree that's the way to go if Iran fails to comply 
with the Security Council's 30-day deadline on its nuclear program?
    President Bush. Thanks. First, I do want to offer my country's 
assistance to the people affected by the recent earthquakes in Iran. We 
obviously have our differences with the Iranian Government, but we do 
care about the suffering of Iranian people.
    There is common agreement that the Iranians should not have a 
nuclear weapon, the capacity to make a nuclear weapon, or the knowledge 
as to how to make a nuclear weapon. And the reason there's common 
agreement is because the Iranian Government with such as weapon, as is 
now constituted, would pose a serious threat to world security.
    Condoleezza Rice is in Europe today to discuss with the P-5, the 
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, a strategy 
to go forward in a unified way that says to the Iranian Government, the 
world rejects your desires to have a nuclear weapon. Condi is 
strategizing with those who will be making the U.N. Security Council 
decisions as to that united front. In other words, we agree on a goal; 
now the question is, how do we work together to achieve that goal? And 
you're watching Secretary of State Rice work with our friends to remind 
the Iranians on a regular and consistent basis that if they want to be--
participate in the international order of things, if they don't want to 
isolate themselves, they must listen very carefully to what we are 
saying with unified voice.

[[Page 619]]

Murder Investigation in Cancun

    Q. My question is to President Fox, and I wonder if we could prevail 
upon you, sir, to answer it in English. A few weeks ago, there was a 
very bloody murder here with the Ianiero family in Cancun. Two young 
Canadian mothers are very concerned, back in Canada, that Mexican 
authorities have mistakenly made them suspects amidst concerns, also in 
Canada, the Mexicans may have bungled this investigation. Can you tell 
us where this investigation is going, and can you assure those two young 
women, indeed, they are not suspects?
    President Fox. Well, we are absolutely sorry, and we have our, well, 
feelings that a crime has been carried out here in a hotel in Cancun. 
The attorneyship office is working, both the Federal one and the local 
one--they're working on the investigation. When the data is ready and 
when they finally decide, we can claim which are the guilty people. As 
of now, that is the only information we have at hand. We're working 
closely. We are reporting to the Government and the authorities of 
Canada. Investigation is being carried out. So far we cannot make any 
further comments. Thank you.
    Prime Minister Harper. ----say that we do appreciate the full 
cooperation of the Mexican Government, Mexican police at all levels. 
There has been consultation with our officials, and I've spoken to the 
RCMP, and they assure me that that has been the case, particularly since 
the commitments made by Secretary Derbez in Ottawa. So we are working 
together in this; we're fully apprised of the situation. I can just add 
one small thing, which is that we're told once again, and I think we've 
been saying this repeatedly for some time, there is no extradition 
pending--extradition demand pending, nor is there one anticipated in the 
near future. And that's probably about all I can say.
    President Fox. Muchas gracias.

Note: The news conference began at 10:45 a.m. in the Fiesta Americana 
Condesa Cancun Hotel. President Fox spoke in Spanish, and his remarks 
were translated by an interpreter. Portions of Prime Minister Harper's 
remarks were in French, and an English translation was provided. Prime 
Minister Harper referred to Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day of 
Canada; and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista of 
Mexico. President Fox referred to Secretary of Government Jose Carlos 
Maria Abascal Carranza of Mexico.