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A document dated earlier this month from the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic arm of Harper’s office, authorizes Fast “to sign, on behalf of the Government of Canada, subject to ratification, the agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United Mexican States on air transport.”

Sergio Alcocer Martinez, Mexico’s undersecretary for North America, said the new air agreement would greatly expand the current one between the two countries, which is more than 50 years old. It would allow more direct Mexican flights to Canadian cities, beyond the current routes to Montreal and Toronto.

“The new agreement, which will be signed, is much broader in terms of allowing more companies, more destinations, code shares among the airlines. And that certainly will help our trade, our business people, to move back and forth, as well as tourism,” he told The Canadian Press.

He suggested the air agreement would serve as a precursor to the eventual lifting of the Canadian visa requirement on Mexican travellers, which was imposed in 2009 to curb bogus asylum claims.

“It is important to facilitate the movement of people.”

A Canadian expert on Latin America, who has been advising the Mexican government on the Harper government, said the air access agreement is expected to be one of the main announcements of the bilateral portion of Harper’s visit.

“I can’t fly directly from Calgary, the energy capital of the superpower that is Canada, to Mexico directly,” said Carlo Dade, director of the Centre for Trade and Investment Policy at the Canada West Foundation.

“You’ll see a new announcement on flights.”