The meeting of the leaders of the three nations that form the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will also include time for bilateral meetings between Fox and Bush, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Mexico wanted to include Canada in a bilateral meeting between Fox and Bush that was agreed to in December.

"If we don't do it that way ? we wouldn't be taking full advantage (of the meeting)," Derbez said.

He said many of the issues facing the NAFTA countries such as "the coordination of financial systems and the coordination of regulations regarding production standards" would best be discussed with all three governments present. Derbez is in Washington following a meeting this week with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Rice said last month that a trilateral meeting would allow the leaders to discuss the next phases of NAFTA as well as improve the North American region's economic competitiveness.

Derbez said the economic integration of Europe "puts questions before us about how we should view NAFTA so that the member nations expand this relation."

President Vicente Fox has been pushing for the three governments to discuss a "NAFTA-Plus" that would include more extensive economic and social cooperation between the three nations.

However, Fox's call for expanding NAFTA has not been matched in the rhetoric of the United States or Canada.

Officials from the three nations met last week in preparation for the meeting, but government sources refused to comment with more precision on the agenda that will be discussed.

The date of the meeting was set for Easter Week because it was the only space available in Bush's agenda, sources said.

Fox is expected to push Bush to make good on his promise to submit a immigration reform proposal that would increase the number of temporary work visas available to Mexicans.