MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Mexico's Senate ratified a free-trade accord
                   with the European Union on Monday, giving President Ernesto Zedillo the
                   green light to sign the pact in Lisbon later this week.

                   Dionisio Perez, president of the directive table in the Senate, confirmed the
                   passage of the accord, which will be gradually phased in after July 1. The
                   measure passed with 89 votes in favor and 11 against.

                   Zedillo is scheduled to sign the treaty with the 15-member EU on Thursday,
                   along with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, whose country
                   currently holds the rotating EU presidency. Negotiations toward a free trade
                   pact began in 1995.

                   Mexico is hoping the treaty will diversify its export markets and reduce its
                   dependence on the United States, the buyer of about 80 percent of the Latin
                   American nation's exports.

                   The EU, meanwhile, is hoping the pact will put European companies on the
                   same footing as their U.S. and Canadian competitors, which have enjoyed free
                   trade with Mexico since the 1994 start of the North American Free Trade
                   Agreement.

                   In 1998, EU exports to Mexico totaled about $9.3 million, while imports from
                   Mexico amounted to about $3.9 million.

                    Copyright 2000 Reuters.