Next month, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will take his first foreign trip as governor — to Mexico, where he plans to extend a personal invitation to President Vicente Fox to visit Utah in September.

Huntsman announced the four-day trip on Friday during his monthly press conference with representatives of Utah's minority media outlets. He said he will take along his senior adviser for economic development, Chris Roybal.

"It will be a quick visit, but I'm delighted that we heard yesterday from the Mexican government that President Fox has confirmed the meeting," the governor said. "I also hope we can offer a reciprocal meeting here in Utah sometime in the fall, in late September."

During the trip, set for July 11-15, Huntsman said he is also scheduled to meet with several other Mexican officials, including the secretary of the economy and the minister of travel and tourism, as well as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

The governor had hoped to sit down with Fox during the annual meeting of the Western Governors' Association in Breckenridge, Colo., earlier this month, but the Mexican president had to cancel his appearance.

This trip, Huntsman said, will focus on economic development. He said he wants to "deliver a more heightened awareness of where we're going as an economy" to the Mexican government, with an emphasis on biotechnology such as the manufacture of medical devices.

His meeting with Fox is set for July 13. The governor and Salt Lake City's new Mexican Consul Salvador Jimenez have being working to bring Fox to Utah since shortly after Huntsman took office in January.

In response to a question from a reporter for the Korean Times of Utah, the governor said he is looking at a possible visit to Asia sometime during the first six months of 2006.

"We have nothing planned yet," Huntsman said. Cities he said he'd like to visit on such a trip include Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai, but only if he can "make sure it's meaningful" — and worth the cost to taxpayers.

The governor noted that he has yet to travel overseas despite his significant global experience as a U.S. ambassador in Singapore and as a U.S. trade representative in Asia.

His second minority press conference attracted nearly 50 participants. "I'm excited to see the diversity of this state," said Lillian Montes, pastor of ethnic affairs for the New Pilgrim Baptist Church in Salt Lake City.

Huntsman was pleased at the turnout. "We're getting bigger and, I hope, better in doing this," he said. He answered questions on the state's new driving privilege cards and other issues.

The governor said he was unaware of an attempt by an activist against illegal immigration to get state officials to forward a list of the card holders to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security but would look into it.

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