Mexican President Vicente Fox appeared open to Canada's proposal on the crisis in Iraq during meetings with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien Thursday, and both leaders agreed that the objective is to disarm Iraq without military action.
Mr. Chrétien is in Mexico City on Thursday and Friday to promote the Canadian plan — which would give Iraq until the end of March to disarm — and to encourage Mr. Fox to take the proposal to the United Nations Security Council, where Mexico is a voting member.
Mr. Fox called the Canadian plan "interesting and productive."
He said everyone at the security council is "trying to put [forward] ideas, procedures, proposals in how can we meet the objective of disarmament without a war."
Earlier this week, diplomatic officials said the two leaders' positions on military action in Iraq are already close. Both men have voiced their support for efforts to resolve the situation peacefully, officials said.
However, Mexico has a larger stake in the issue as a member of the UN Security Council and will have a vote on any resolution dealing with potential military action in the area.
Mr. Fox said Thursday during a press conference that the objective of everyone at the Security Council is to have Iraq disarmed.
"That was approved unanimously by the Security Council. It's our creation," Mr. Fox said.
While he gave encouraging words to Canada's plan, he also said that Mexico and France have also put forward interesting ideas.
"We discuss this all the time in trying to put together a strong, clear process," the Mexican President said.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that if Canada can "make a contribution, we're happy."
"We had a very good discussion," the Prime Minister said. "The ideas put forward were very interesting. Some will be retained, some will not be retained."
Mr. Chrétien said he would like to see a peaceful solution and said other disputes have been won without the use of force, citing the Cold War between Russia and the United States.
"The Cold War was won by the Americans. You can win without shooting. That's the best situation. No doubt."
He said the fact that the Americans and British have amassed 200,000 troops for the potential conflict is already concrete pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Canada began floating its plan on Iraq earlier this week but it has so far received a cool response from the United States.
Mr. Fox and Mr. Chrétien also spoke last week about the issue and what can be done to spark Iraq into co-operating fully with UN weapons inspectors, including looking for a way to better support the inspectors.
Meanwhile, in Baghdad on Thursday, South African disarmament experts visiting Iraq said they are convinced Iraq is doing its best to disarm, and appealed to the Security Council to give weapons inspections more time to work before authorizing war.
Egypt's news agency, meanwhile, said Iraq would announce later Thursday that it will comply with a UN order to begin destroying its al-Samoud 2 missiles by the weekend.
With a report from Brian Laghi and AP
