| | |  Americas & Beyond | July 2009 
Canadian Diplomats Slapped with Visas
 The News
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July 17, 2009
| | Mexico slaps visa requirements on Canadian diplomats (cbc.ca) | |
Washington - Mexico's Foreign Relations secretary Patricia Espinosa announced that Canadian officials and diplomats will be required to obtain visas in advance in response to a new visa requirement for Mexicans visiting Canada.
"Today, we have decided to suspend the agreement that allowed a visa exemption for official and diplomatic passport holders," Espinosa said Thursday in Washington.
Espinosa's announcement came during a meeting with her Canadian counterpart Lawrence Cannon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The meeting, called to prepare for a trilateral summit in Guadalajara, Mexico next month, was the first time that Espinosa and Cannon have met since the diplomatic spat over visa requirements arose earlier this week.
Espinosa said Mexico would not apply the new visa requirement to Canadians visiting Mexico as tourists, to ensure Mexico's key tourism industry was not hit by the new rules.
Canada suddenly announced Monday that visitors from Mexico and the Czech Republic would be required to obtain visas before entering the country, in order to curb fraudulent asylum applicants from the two countries.
The decision has so offended Mexico that Espinosa held a bilateral meeting with her Canadian counterpart to discuss the issue on the sidelines of Thursday's trilateral discussions, she said.
"We have made it absolutely clear that we are not in agreement" with the Canadian decision, Espinosa said.
"We're not looking for problems with our allies," said Cannon, who added that the number of false asylum applications has risen.
The Canadian diplomat noted that the decision to require visas had been taken by Immigration. |
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