Canada will be eligible for a second round of U.S.-financed reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
Bush: Canada Can Bid on Iraq Reconstruction
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
MONTERREY, Mexico ? President Bush, seeking to mend relations with America's northern neighbor, said Tuesday that Canada will be eligible for a second round of U.S.-financed reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
In a breakfast meeting with new Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Bush said he had told Martin of the shift in policy. Martin "understands the stakes" in rebuilding a free and peaceful Iraq, Bush said. He offered no details of what the contracts would be worth.
It was Bush's second fence-mending session in two days. On Monday, Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox put aside two years of differences and said they see eye-to-eye about a new U.S. proposal to grant legal status to millions of undocumented workers in the United States, many of them Mexicans.
The United States had angered many allies last month by banning firms in countries that had opposed the Iraq war from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. French, German and Russian leaders had protested to Bush, and Canada threatened to stop sending aid to Baghdad.
Martin, eager to patch up the cross-border relationship, said he was pleased by the new U.S. stance toward Canada, and the lucrative contracts that could come Canada's way.
"It does show that working together, we can arrive at a reasonable solution," Martin told reporters after the breakfast.
Bush: Canada Can Bid on Iraq Reconstruction
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
MONTERREY, Mexico ? President Bush, seeking to mend relations with America's northern neighbor, said Tuesday that Canada will be eligible for a second round of U.S.-financed reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
In a breakfast meeting with new Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Bush said he had told Martin of the shift in policy. Martin "understands the stakes" in rebuilding a free and peaceful Iraq, Bush said. He offered no details of what the contracts would be worth.
It was Bush's second fence-mending session in two days. On Monday, Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox put aside two years of differences and said they see eye-to-eye about a new U.S. proposal to grant legal status to millions of undocumented workers in the United States, many of them Mexicans.
The United States had angered many allies last month by banning firms in countries that had opposed the Iraq war from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. French, German and Russian leaders had protested to Bush, and Canada threatened to stop sending aid to Baghdad.
Martin, eager to patch up the cross-border relationship, said he was pleased by the new U.S. stance toward Canada, and the lucrative contracts that could come Canada's way.
"It does show that working together, we can arrive at a reasonable solution," Martin told reporters after the breakfast.
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