http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/18243.html

Fox focuses on opportunities of migration

El Universal
Sábado 13 de mayo de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1


VIENNA - President Vicente Fox on Friday said migration is "a huge opportunity" for everyone, although he noted the cross-border movement of laborers must occur in an orderly and lawful fashion.

"Migration is ... a strategic factor in the 21st century and surely we´ll discuss it here because it´s a theme that affects the entire world," Fox said at a press conference during the EU-Latin America summit.

Fox, who devoted much of his time talking about this social phenomenon, stressed that "migration doesn´t have to be a problem; migration is a huge opportunity and the world has to capitalize on it productively."

The president added that "it´s a responsibility that must be shared both by the countries" that are the source of the emigrants and those who receive them.

The security of the migrants also must be ensured so they are not victims of "violence or human rights abuses," he said.

Fox noted that migration "must be carried out in a legal, orderly, planned" manner and that "persistent" efforts were being made toward that end.

He also added that Mexico´s talks with the United States on managing migratory flows could prove to be a catalyst for reflection on this problem in other areas of the world.

Separately, the president said Mexico continues to support a hemispheric economic integration model - embodied in Washington´s proposal for the Free Trade Area of the Americas - but emphasized that regional initiatives had to be effectively consolidated first.

"Mexico is very far from having (allied itself) exclusively with the United States," Fox said, adding that his country also cooperates with Mercosur (the southern South American trade bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) and the Andean Community (consisting of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).