The Toast of Davos Speaks Out.(Vicente Fox)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Vicente Fox was the toast of Davos last week. Klaus Schwab, founder and president of the World Economic Forum, set the tone when he introduced his elite audience as "amigos de Fox." For all Fox's traditional trappings--the cowboy boots, the heavy cowboy belt buckle (it reads fox)--the 58-year-old president, who took office on Dec. 1, has become an emblem of change both inside Mexico and out. And change, predictably, was the theme of his address to the WEF annual meeting. After seven uninterrupted decades of one-party rule, Fox represents a sharp break from the country's past. Nevertheless, he faces formidable obstacles to the change he talks about. Corruption, street crime, kidnappings and urban pollution are among the many worries potential investors must confront when they consider Mexico. The day after his speech, Fox addressed some of these issues in an interview with NEWSWEEK's Stryker McGuire. Excerpts:

McGUIRE: You told your audience last week that you wanted the world to change its attitude toward Mexico. What misperceptions do you think the world has?

FOX: Well, they're not misperceptions. What we basically want is for investors and businesses to know the changes that have occurred in Mexico that are making Mexico more attractive. Mexico is the best investment opportunity in the world because we have this unique situation of having trade agreements not just with the United States and Canada, but also with the European Union. Through investing in Mexico, you can come to both of those markets with no duty costs. That's a competitive advantage that is really worth looking at. Furthermore, we have labor costs that are some of the lowest in the world, given the productivity and the quality of Mexican labor.

A lot of investors who would agree with what you say are also worried about two things in particular. One is what they would consider a culture of corruption in Mexico. The second is about the personal safety of their executives working in Mexico City or, say, Guadalajara. What do you say to somebody who brings those points to you?

I am very clear on the demands that businesses and investors make when they go into any country. And this rule-of-law issue is key to us. We're going to have results in the short term. We have a strong program in this direction. We're investing a lot of money in security, justice and the rule of law in Mexico. We created a new ministry of security and police. We are reinventing the attorney general's office. We are recontracting the investigating police who work with the attorney general--with much higher salaries and much higher education levels. Through ...