Prime Minister Stephen Harper is meeting today with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in an effort to iron out some of the wrinkles in the relationship between the two countries.
It's a warmup of sorts for Wednesday, when the two join U.S. President Barack Obama at their North American leaders' summit.
Harper comes to the leaders' summit armed with a plan that could pave the way for getting rid of his host's biggest complaint about Canada — a visa requirement for Mexican visitors.
The two countries will be signing an expanded airline access agreement that would allow Mexican airlines greater access to more cities in Canada, and Canadians more direct flights to Mexico.
Before that deal is signed, however, Harper — in Mexico to mark the 20th anniversary of NAFTA — took time to outline some of the trade inequities that exist between the two sides.
In 2012, Canada imported $25.5 billion from Mexico while Canada exported about $5.4 billion to Mexico, the Prime Minister's Office said.
The expanded air access agreement is likely to be a precursor to the Conservative government eventually lifting the controversial visa it slapped on Mexican travelers in 2009 to combat an increase of bogus asylum seekers.
Harper isn't expected to announce a lifting of the visa this week, but the two countries are hopeful the issue can be ironed out in the coming months.
The Mexican government has complained loudly and publicly about the visa requirement, which it says is invasive, time-consuming and to blame for a major decline in Mexican visitors to Canada.
The powerful Canadian Council of Chief Executives has urged Harper to lift the visa, or at least simplify it with a less onerous on-line process that would be similar to the standard to which the United States subjects Mexican applicants.
