Fox and Bush have agenda cut out for them

                 By Elliot Blair Smith

                 MEXICO CITY — Mexican President
                 Vicente Fox, while kicking back with the
                 prime minister of Spain in this country's capital
                 a few weeks ago, suddenly got an urge to call
                 his friend George W. Bush at the White House.

                 That Fox had nothing particularly important to
                 share with the U.S. president became evident
                 when aides related the impromptu three-way
                 conversation that included Spain's José María
                 Aznar. Fox aides said the call to Bush served
                 "to emphasize the closeness" between men
                 who "understand each other and are alike."

                 Fox also seemed to be making the point that
                 Mexico enjoys a special relationship with the
                 United States, due in no small part to him.

                 Next week, Fox and Bush hope to prove
                 there is more to the relationship than just talk.

                 Fox, guest of honor at Bush's first state visit in Washington, plans to spend
                 Wednesday and Thursday with his fellow rancher and former border-state
                 governor. The two men will lead Cabinet negotiations on immigration reform,
                 border safety, drug interdiction and trade as they set their agendas for the next
                 several years. And they will visit a Mexican-American community in Toledo,
                 Ohio.

                 But at a time when Fox and Bush themselves
                 raised expectations that this pair of
                 across-the-fence ranch owners could produce
                 important agreements, including expanded
                 temporary-worker visas for Mexicans in the
                 USA, officials from both countries now say
                 they have a lot of deliberating to do yet.

                 "It's a very complicated negotiation — very entangled — with delicate
                 political equations in the United States and in Mexico," Mexican Foreign
                 Secretary Jorge Castaneda says. "We've run out of time" to settle all issues on
                 the agenda before the Bush-Fox summit.

                 U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow says, "It's not realistic to think
                 that problems with so many facets, and that have existed for years and years,
                 can be resolved in a few months of work."

                 But grand expectations, often tilting at reality, are part and parcel of Fox's
                 politics.

                 Last December, the lanky, mustachioed Fox — likened to the "Marlboro
                 Man" of billboard fame because he favors cowboy boots and hat over a suit
                 and tie — ended the former ruling party's monolithic 71-year grip on power in
                 Mexico. He quickly emerged as a symbol of democracy worldwide.

                 But the Mexican president has found that running this complex, contradictory
                 country is more difficult than running for office here. Often he trips over his
                 own boots.

                 After promising to practice austerity in an office plundered by past officials,
                 Fox recently acknowledged that his refurbished official residence was
                 budgeted to receive $400 bath towels. He fired his purchasing chief. And as
                 Mexico's first president in more than a century to openly mix politics with his
                 Catholic faith, Fox, 59, also stirred controversy in July by marrying his
                 spokeswoman, Martha Sahagun, 49, without waiting for their first marriages'
                 annulments.

                 Supporters say the U.S. economic slowdown is one important reason Fox has
                 been unable to deliver on his promises of job growth and increased public
                 security in this country. Another reason cited for Fox's governing difficulties is
                 the nation's fractious, newly independent congress where no party, including
                 Fox's National Action Party, or PAN, has a majority.

                 So what can Fox offer Bush? And what does he want? Here are a few topics
                 on the table:

                      Drugs. Fox and Bush have shepherded the closest-ever cooperation in
                      interdiction efforts between the two countries, officials from both
                      countries say. U.S. Customs pilots are training Mexicans in
                      air-surveillance tactics. The U.S. Coast Guard is patrolling the eastern
                      Pacific with the Mexican navy. And the DEA and FBI are sharing
                      sensitive drug-related intelligence with the Mexican government.

                      But more must be done. Corruption still cripples law enforcement in
                      Mexico. And U.S. officials say they have identified a new drug threat in
                      Mexico — methamphetamine production — and want the Mexican
                      government to more closely regulate dangerous "precursor" chemicals.
                      They are the building blocks of illegal narcotics.

                      Immigration. Fox wants to find new ways to "poke holes" in the
                      border through a European-style common market that erases political
                      and economic divides among the USA, Canada and Mexico. For now,
                      Fox wants Washington to "regularize" the status of more than 3 million
                      Mexicans who live illegally in the USA.

                      Bush says he won't offer amnesty but is considering an overhaul of the
                      U.S. temporary-worker visa program. Mexican and U.S. diplomatic
                      sources say the Bush administration may increase the number of
                      non-farm job slots — from 66,000 this year to about 300,000 — and
                      streamline visa applications.

                      Trade. Diplomatic sources say the U.S. government is considering
                      ways to underwrite economic growth in areas of Mexico that are
                      homes to migrants who leave for work in the USA. The U.S.-funded
                      Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corp. might be
                      tapped to provide such funding. Bush also will consider overhauling the
                      North American Development Bank, created by the North American
                      Free Trade Agreement, to free up additional investment for
                      environmental projects in border areas.

                      Bush wants Mexico to deregulate its energy sector. Over the next five
                      years, Mexico needs $50 billion in investment to meet domestic energy
                      demand. But Fox will be hard-pressed to deliver because the
                      constitution forbids foreign investment in oil and Mexico only allows
                      limited investment in power production.

                      At the presidents' last get-together, in February at Fox's ranch in the
                      central state of Guanajuato, there were several embarrassing hiccups.
                      When Fox invited his fellow rancher to go horseback riding, Bush
                      unexpectedly declined. And when Fox tried to give Bush a
                      custom-made horse saddle, Bush rejected the gift as excessive.