Helms to travel to Mexico for joint committee meeting

From CNN Capitol Hill Producer Dana Bash

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, R-North Carolina, is taking his committee on an historic trip to Mexico later this month for a first-ever joint hearing with another country's parliament outside the United States.

Helms said the three-day visit, scheduled to begin April 16, is intended to strengthen relations with Mexico.

"We will meet as a committee with Mexican officials, including the new president, Mr. Fox, and we will hold an official joint meeting with the Mexican Senate Committee on Foreign Relations," Helms announced Tuesday.

The North Carolina Republican said he hopes the meeting will have the same positive effect as his recent trip to the United Nations, which resulted in Helms' backing off some of his intense criticism of the organization.

"I am convinced that this dialogue led to an increase in understanding, and helped make possible the U.N.'s approval of reform at the end of last year," Helms said in a written statement.

Helms said to his knowledge, the joint meeting between his committee and the Mexican Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will be the first of its kind on "foreign soil."

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U.S. Senator Jesse Helms
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

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