Joint Statement Following Discussions With President Diaz Ordaz of Mexico.

AT THE INVITATION of the President of the United States of America and Mrs. Johnson, the President of the United Mexican States, accompanied by Mrs. Diaz Ordaz, is paying a state visit to the United States.

The two Chiefs of State expressed greatest pleasure in having another opportunity to renew their cordial personal relationship and to resume informal talks held during their previous visits and at the Punta del Este meeting of American Presidents in April 1967.

President Diaz Ordaz expressed to President Johnson his sincere thanks for the friendly reception and for the warm welcome of the Congress, government officials, and individuals whom he has met, which he said reflect the traditional friendship between the peoples of the United States and Mexico.

The two Presidents engaged in wide-ranging talks in which they reviewed matters of common interest, as indicated below, and they expressed satisfaction over the high level of mutual understanding reached during the last few years in relations between the two countries.

The two Presidents took note of the highly successful mutual assistance arrangements to undertake flood relief operations entered into in late September by state and local authorities along the border which saved many lives. President Diaz Ordaz reiterated his thanks to President Johnson for the cooperation of the Government of the United States in rescue operations within Mexico. The Presidents noted that the flood waters were of unprecedented quantities and that the flood control system of the joint International Boundary and Water Commission had minimized the damage. They were pleased, moreover, that in addition to developing a broad program to raise living standards along the border, the recently created U.S. Mexican Commission for Border Development and Friendship facilitated relief operations by communicating with federal and local agencies.

The Presidents agreed that the Alliance for progress, foreshadowed by the remarkable economic and social progress of Mexico made possible by its Revolution, has been a useful instrument, and can, as agreed at Punta del Este, be even more useful in the future in promoting, with social justice, the development of the continent. President Diaz Ordaz expressed the importance within Mexico, since their inception several decades ago, of some national programs which the Act of Punta del Este includes, such as supervised agricultural credit for low income farmers, low cost housing, and the advances in higher education. He expressed satisfaction that Mexico, as an Alliance Partner, is contributing to the training of thousands of students and technicians from other Latin American countries. The Presidents noted with pleasure that, in furthering the educational development of the Hemisphere, the Benito Juarez-Abraham Lincoln scholarships were now in operation and that more than 80 Hemisphere youth would benefit in 1967.

With reference to the meeting of hemispheric presidents at Punta del Este, President Diaz Ordaz reaffirmed his conviction that the Latin American common market will foster the economic and social development of the area in a more rapid and balanced manner, and that this is primarily an effort to be carried forward by the Latin American countries themselves. For his part, President Johnson reiterated firm support for this promising Latin American initiative.

Also with regard to the meeting at Punta del Este, the Presidents reiterated their conviction that individual and joint efforts of the American states are essential in order to increase the income of the Latin American countries resulting from their traditional exports and to avoid frequent fluctuations in the prices of these commodities, as well as to promote new exports. We agreed at Punta del Este to strengthen intergovernmental consultation in this field; we shall continue to do so.

The Presidents were gratified at the steadily increasing levels of trade which make the United States the best customer of Mexico and Mexico the best market for products of the United States in Latin America. They noted that the United States-Mexico Joint Trade Committee continues to provide a forum for discussion of trade problems. They agreed on the importance to the developing countries of access to the world market for their exports. President Diaz Ordaz noted recent proposals in the United States Congress which, if adopted, would restrict entry into the United States of some products exported by Mexico. He expressed his Government's concern regarding the adverse impact such restrictions would have on Mexico. President Johnson reiterated his desire for a continued high level of trade and stressed his opposition to protectionist restrictions.

The two Chief Executives expressed their satisfaction on the signing of a Fishing Agreement which was effected today through an exchange of notes. Mexico and the United States uphold different points of view regarding the problem of the extent of territorial waters, but these differences do not now exist with regard to fisheries jurisdiction. President Diaz Ordaz wished to underline his satisfaction that this problem has been resolved in accordance with the law recently passed by the Mexican Congress extending to twelve miles the exclusive fishing zone. In conformity with this law, United States fishing vessels will be able to continue through 1972 traditional fishing in the zone between nine and twelve miles from the Mexican coast which up to now has been open to all fishing vessels. The exclusive United States fishing zone will be opened to Mexican fishing vessels in the same way. The two Presidents were pleased to note that this agreement has put an end to a 30-year old difference on fisheries jurisdiction.

The Presidents commended the statesmen and negotiators whose vision and high sense of responsibility made it possible for the two Governments to reach a settlement over the Chamizal. They remarked that a settlement of this nature, freely arrived at and fair to both countries, was all too exceptional in relations between neighboring countries. In their presence, the Secretary of State of the United States of America and the Secretary of External Relations of Mexico signed a document approving for their respective Governments, as of 12:01 a.m., October 28, Minute 228 of the International Boundary and Water Commission demarcating the new boundary line between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, under the Chamizal settlement. In accordance with the Chamizal Convention of August 29, 1963, that new boundary line will become effective as of that moment.

Tomorrow, October 28, the two Presidents will fly to El Paso and Ciudad Juarez and, at the invitation of President Diaz Ordaz, they will visit Ciudad Juarez for a ceremony at the Mexican memorial to the Chamizal settlement.

As a result of their discussion the two Presidents agreed that further inquiry and action should be taken with respect to several important matters affecting both countries. These are set forth in a separate release entitled, Presidents' Action program.

PRESIDENTS' ACTION PROGRAM

1. The Work of the International Boundary and Water Commission. They noted that since their visit in December 1966 to the Amistad Dam site on the Rio Grande, joint construction had advanced rapidly, and that the Commission can begin to store water before the flood season of 1968. They noted that recently the two Governments had approved a project for the relocation and channelization of the Tijuana River in the States of California and Baja California, and an expansion of the international sanitation plant for the two Nogales on the Arizona-Sonora border. They recalled President Johnson's meeting with President Lopez Mateos in February 1964 at which time the Commission had been instructed to submit studies relating to any portions of land that might have become separated from the country to which they belonged, so that the Rio Grande could be made once again the boundary between the two countries from El Paso and Ciudad Juarez to the Gulf of Mexico. Upon being informed that the Commission is well advanced in the surveys needed and that the studies are underway with a view to their early completion, the Presidents agreed to ask the Commission to submit these studies, as completed, to the two Governments. They further instructed the international Boundary and Water Commission to complete as soon as practicable its studies of the recent record flood on the lower Rio Grande, and to recommend to the two Governments such modification of the international flood control project as may be necessary to control and contain floodwaters of this unexpected magnitude.

2. U.S.-Mexico Commission for Border Development and Friendship. The Presidents discussed the work of the Commission which they had agreed to create in April, 1966, to study cooperatively the improvement in the standard of living of communities along the border. The Presidents reviewed the minutes of the first joint meeting of the Commission in Mexico City on October 19-20 of this year in which the two Sections reviewed plans for beautification projects and increased tourism, joint city planning between adjoining cities, increased jobs opportunities on both sides of the border, cultural centers open to nationals of both countries, health and vocational educational facilities, and other programs which will permit the neighboring communities to work together to accelerate their progress. The Presidents instructed the two Sections of the Commission to give priority attention to a program of social and economic rehabilitation of the lower Rio Grande Valley.

The two Presidents expressed common interest in considering the establishment of parallel national parks on the international border. The first location to be considered is the reservoir to be formed by the International Amistad Dam being constructed jointly by the two Governments on the Rio Grande. The U.S.-Mexico Commission for Border Development and Friendship will consider other potential locations, such as the Big Bend area of the Rio Grande.

3. Cooperation in the Development of Water Resources. The Presidents spoke of the remarkable exchange of information on water resources management that took place at the Conference on Water for Peace held in Washington last May. They reiterated their intention to continue to keep pace with modern science and techniques in the collaboration between the two countries for the development of their respective water resources. President Diaz Ordaz remarked on the fact that this cooperation is exemplified in the Mexican project now under construction utilizing United States technology for the desalting of ocean water for the city of Tijuana, Baja California. The two Presidents reviewed with satisfaction the progress report on the work of the United States-Mexican Study Group, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating the feasibility of a joint nuclear project to desalt water of the Gulf of California for use in the States of Arizona and California in the United States and Sonora and Baja California in Mexico. The Presidents requested the Study Group to submit its recommendations to the two Governments by mid 1968. The Presidents spoke of the continued efforts of the two Governments to control salinity in the two great international rivers that their countries share. They reaffirmed the agreement reached by them on April 15 of last year concerning the need for prior consultation before either Government undertakes any projects that might adversely affect the other.

4. Elimination of the Screwworm Fly. The Presidents agreed in principle that the present barrier in Northern Mexico to control and eventually eliminate the screwworm fly should be extended to the narrow Isthmus of Tehauntepec. They proposed that an agreement be negotiated as soon as possible to implement this program which would materially benefit large areas in Mexico which are not now protected against this pest and would reduce the danger of its reappearance in the United States.

5. Expansion of Cultural Exchange. To further extend the exchange of persons from all walks of life between the two countries, the Presidents agreed that a new cultural agreement should be negotiated. This would provide guidelines for the types of cultural interchange and foster continued understanding of and training in the two countries. They observed that in 1968 Mexico would host the nineteenth Olympiad and in that same year the Hemis-Fair would take place in San Antonio, Texas. These types of events were viewed as important incentives to continued high levels of tourism, which permit the peoples of their two countries to maintain personal and friendly relations.

6. Stability for Coffee Prices. To provide conditions of stability in the coffee trade at price levels both remunerative to producers and fair to consumers and to obtain dependable income for coffee-producing countries, they agreed that the International Coffee Agreement should be extended with such amendments as may be required to improve enforcement procedures, to bring production into line with consumer requirements, and to ensure equitable trading conditions.

7. Movement of Articles of Archeological Significance and Historical Value. The Presidents agreed to explore possible methods of controlling the unauthorized movement of articles of archeological significance and historical value between their two countries.

8. Control of Narcotics. The Presidents noted with satisfaction the continued cooperative efforts between the enforcement agencies of both countries in the field of controlling the international trafficking in narcotics and other dangerous drugs, and resolved to continue this cooperation.

9. Border Trade. The two Presidents reaffirmed the decision to encourage expansion of legitimate border trade and instructed their respective Governments to conclude their studies as soon as possible so that further action may be initiated.