SAN FRANCISCO -- (AP) -- Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo called for closer
cooperation with California to resolve shared problems, a move state lawmakers
hope signals warmer relations across the border.

``Of course we have many problems,'' Zedillo said Tuesday night. ``We have to
talk about migration. We have to talk about the everyday problems at our
common border. We have to talk about security problems. We have to talk about
so many issues.''

Zedillo's speech to about 800 members of the Commonwealth Club and World
Affairs Council came hours after he became the first Mexican president to
address the California Legislature.

His three-day trip to California reciprocates a trip Gov. Gray Davis took to Mexico
City in February. Zedillo was to arrive in Los Angeles today and spend Thursday
in San Diego before returning home.

While Mexico-California trade has soared this decade, official relations have
withered as California voters approved ballot measures meant to curb illegal
immigration and dismantle state affirmative action.

``We are committed to healing the wounds of the past,'' Davis said before
introducing Zedillo in San Francisco. ``God made us neighbors for a reason. He
wants us to get along. We have a common destiny. When Mexico prospers,
America prospers.''

Zedillo raised immigration as a major issue in cross-border relations. But he
avoided controversial pronouncements on the subject, saying solutions could be
found only if California and Mexico work together.

In his earlier speech at the state Capitol, Zedillo sought to reassure Californians
that his country is rebuilding its economy, strengthening democracy, reforming its
judicial system and cleaning up its environment.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Mexican-American, said California and Mexico were
ringing in ``a new spirit of goodwill.''

``The days of looking toward Mexico and seeing only problems are over,''
Bustamante said.