Mexico's Fox to discuss slowing US economy with Bush

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox says he would discuss the slowing US economy and its impact on Mexican economic growth when he hosts US President George W. Bush later this month.

During a live radio show on Saturday that is part of his promise of open government, Fox reiterated Mexico's central bank forecast that his new government would not reach economic growth targets because of dependence on the US economy, which has begun to slow after a decade of growth.

"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), instead of growing at 4.5 percent, as we had proposed, will probably be closer to 4.0 or 3.8 percent," Fox said in the radio interview, the first in a series of weekly programs entitled "Fox live, Fox with you."

"But really there won't be a significant impact," he added.

Mexico sends about 90 percent of its exports to the United States.

In between exchanging jibes with a famous comedian, the 58-year-old Mexican businessman-turned-politician who took office in December, said issues like migration and the war on drugs would also top the agenda in his discussions with Bush.

Fox, the first Mexican president elected from outside the Institutional Revolutionary Party in over seven decades, holds talks with Bush on February 16 in the American president's first overseas trip since taking office last month.

- REUTERS

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