We will now construct a bridge between the future projection of the government's pans, and their fruition. These are just some of the facts that are building the Mexico of tomorrow.

Since day one, we are turning the government into a competitive institution; we are fostering a new attitude of listening, answering, proposing, and deciding. We are in the process of building a new form of public administration, focusing on the people, respecting laws, setting goals, and being accountable; we are reporting; we are acting with honesty and transparency. Thus, we are reinforcing the role of the people: they are becoming more responsible, more critical, more participative, more committed. This is a change not only in the structure of government but also in the role that we all play in the edification of a new country.

Saving on the part of the government.
Throughout the length and breadth of my administration, projects have been implemented to reduce and eliminate superfluous and unnecessary bureaucratic expenditure: we have managed to save over 6 billion pesos in spending under the headings of cellular phones, luxury cars, recurrent expenses, and by optimizing the use of physical space. Our objective is to achieve savings of 30 billion pesos by the end of the year.

Today, each government department has its own strategic pan, as well as goals negotiated — one by one — with the President of the Republic. We have worked on the transfer of authority and on the decision-making capacity of the departments and agencies which will become reflected by the reduction of costs, by an improvement in the quality of services, and by better authority. This will lead to an increase in the response capacity.

We aspire to being a government classified in the category of total quality. We have begun work toward ISO 9002 certification in a considerable number of governmental processes.

Federal Resources.
The first action taken by the current government was to send the budget for this year to Congress, which authorized an increase of 1.59 billion pesos in fund allocation to the states. Owing to this, capital expenditure will reach an all-time record, measured in real terms. In 2001, for every peso spent by the federal government, states and municipalities will spend 1.54 pesos.

For the first time in ten years, the foreign-debt ceiling will be zero. For the year 2000, the tax policy contained in the Federal Expenditure Budget will result in a 1.1% reduction in the government deficit, with respect to the GDP and in 2001, between 0.5 and 0.65%, as a maximum ceiling.

Corruption.
Priority status has been assigned to the anti-corruption fight. Actions in this direction include: the creation of a strategic program and a legal structure conducive to an all-out combat; the establishment of a Code of Ethics for Public Administration officials; the creation of a Trusteeship for receiving the patrimonial or equity statements of all Government Ministers and heads of decentralized bodies - which will be made public, if necessary - and, the signing of the National Agreement for Transparency, which is endorsed by organizations from all sectors of society.

Currently underway are 25 audits of the main government bodies, some of which have resulted in legal proceedings and sanctions of varying degree against the civil servants found responsible.

In the media, an awareness campaign has been set in motion: "No a la Mordida" ("Say No to the Bribe "). This is an invitation to leave behind practices of corruption and impunity.

In seven operations of the "Pretended User" Program, the existence was proven of acts of corruption in the processing, for example, of applications for a driverâs license.

Contraband.
In the fight against contraband and customs fraud, raids were conducted and more than 270 tons of illegal products have been confiscated. This represents 36 times the figure achieved in previous years.

Also successful have been the anti-contraband raids conducted in Mexico City and Guadalajara in which 45 warehouses and 50 retail outlets were closed down and 450 tons of illegal merchandise was confiscated.

In contrast, 5.5 million inhabitants in close to 500 extremely marginalized municipalities received support with funds from the federal treasury.

Human rights.
An agreement was signed between the Mexican government and Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, aimed at training government officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations in defense of human rights. The agreement encompasses the absolute observance of human rights in five major areas: 1) related national initiatives; 2) the rights of those who form part of indigenous communities; 3) the meting-out of justice, particularly in the case of torture victims; 4) economic, social, and cultural rights; 5) vulnerable groups, especially children, women, and emigrants.