Blair arrives in Mexico
Tony Blair has arrived in Mexico for the first state visit to the country by a British prime minister.
He arrived on a British Airways jet from Brazil.
President Vicente Fox and his new wife Martha Sahagun accompanied Mr Blair and wife Cherie to Mexico City's National Palace.
Mr Blair said: "Mexico is now a political force on the world level, and I hope this continues to increase.
"Mexico has begun to play a very important role, and this under your (Fox's) administration."
Mr Fox has drawn up regional development plans for Mexico and Central America and has made respect for human rights the keystone of Mexico's foreign policy.
Margaret Thatcher briefly visited the Caribbean resort of Cancun in the 1980s to attend a summit meeting, but Mr Blair intends to spend a full week in Mexico, visiting an oil plant and then having a holiday with his family on the Caribbean coast.
On Wednesday, at the end of a four-day tour of South America, Mr Blair became the first serving British head of government to visit Argentina.
