Posted on 02/13/2005 7:09:02 PM PST by Brian Mosely
The president, seeking to boost trade, says past governments neglected ties with the region.
AP/EL UNIVERSAL
February 13, 2005
ALGIERS, Algeria President Vicente Fox arrived in Algeria on Saturday with plans to sign a series of accords during the first visit by a Mexican leader to this North African nation in three decades.
Four accords were being signed during his visit, Fox told Algerian government-controlled daily El Moudjahid, ranging from exchanges in education, art and culture to a decision to do away with visas in diplomatic and official passports.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika greeted Fox at the airport. Fox, on a swing through Europe and North Africa, arrived from Morocco.
"Algeria is an important pole of development in North Africa with whom Mexico can establish mutually beneficial relations," Fox was quoted as saying by El Moudjahid.
Bouteflika also asked Fox for support in his nation's goal to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
It was the first visit of a Mexican president to Algeria since Luis Echeverría in 1975. However, Bouteflika and Fox have met on three occasions at international forums, the last in September 2003 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.
The official visit is part of a larger foreign relations strategy by the Mexican government to improve commercial and diplomatic ties with Arabic nations, which Fox said "had been forgotten" by past governments.
Crowning the effort was Fox's promise to establish a diplomatic office in the Palestinian capital of Ramallah in a meeting with 15 Arab ambassadors in Marrakech on Friday.
"I would like to transmit to your respective nations a message of affection, respect and hope from Mexico," Fox told the envoys.
Crowning the effort was Fox's promise to establish a diplomatic office in the Palestinian capital of Ramallah in a meeting with 15 Arab ambassadors in Marrakech on Friday.
Sleep well....
I guess we better re-name I-19 the Al Quida Highway and be done with it.
sleep well? i don't think so. vicente wants open borders with us, and virtually no restrictions with algeria, he seems to be taking a little jaunt through north africa to see what kind of deals he can make.
bottom line, we will be invaded by shady characters from north africa who will gain easy transit from mexico.
is everybody happy? i'm not, which is why we must close our borders and not appease george's bud, vicente.
Ping
Do not adjust your sets, welcome to the Twilight Zone.
/jasper
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Well, Mexico does have a very very fast growing Muslim population. But I bet that's not the reason.
Don't understand the marketing. Why would Arabs buy Mexican drugs from Fox when they can get what the want from Afghanistan and Burma?
I am shocked and outraged that Fox News is looking to strengthen its ties with the Arab world. That's what I'd expect CNN to do. Here we thought that there was finally one news channel that stood up for the United States. Particularly in this time of global terrorism, it is deeply disappointing that . . .
What? It's not Fox News? It's Mexian President Vicente Fox? Never mind.
I just read this at LGF.
Not good. Not good at all.
Mexico has everything to gain and nothing to lose by looking to get favors from the Arabs in exchange for giving them a back door to the US of A.
Do you mean to say that Mexico has a "fast moving Muslim population," moving from South to North?
Homeland Security: Please close the border immediately.
Ay, caramba. This we do not need. I was delighted when we saw the last PRI president of Mexico go out the door after a century of corruption and religious persecution, but Fox beats them all.
Adrastus,
I read (last year sometime) that the Muslim population one of the fastest growing populations in Mexico. Wish I still had the article handy, but I believe it also mentioned the areas of Mexico where this is the case.
islam needs ignorance to flourish. it is like a tumor which attaches itself to the most vulnerable, uneducated segment of society.
this is not good. it's time our president puts his foot down and stops worshipping vicente.
Well stated . . .
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