Statement by the President on the Solution of the Chamizal Border Dispute With Mexico.

I HAVE approved the recommendations for a complete solution to the Chamizal border problem contained in a Memorandum of the Department of State and of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico dated July 17, 1963. I am pleased to note that President Lopez Mateos has also approved the Memorandum. The Memorandum proposes the resolution of this long-standing dispute by giving effect in today's circumstances to the 1911 international arbitration award.

It is gratifying to be able to approve a proposed settlement of the Chamizal dispute and thus bring closer to a successful conclusion the constructive efforts of President Taft and all the other American Presidents since him who have sought to resolve this complex problem on a mutually satisfactory basis. I believe the solution which has been recommended to me will make a significant contribution to relations between the United States and Mexico and will contribute to the welfare and orderly development of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

The Department of State will now undertake negotiations with the Government of Mexico looking to the early conclusion of a convention to carry out the recommendations in the Memorandum.