Mexico's ambassador to the United States is now scheduled to spend two days in Utah next month, a trip that's seen as a prelude to a long-awaited visit by Mexican President Vicente Fox.

The ambassador, Carlos de Icaza, is expected to arrive Dec. 1 for a two-day stay that will include a presentation at Brigham Young University, Consul General of Mexico for Utah Salvador Jimenez said.

Icaza will sit down with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Dec. 2 to discuss the governor's proposed alliance between Utah and Mexico to promote trade and tourism, as well as educational and cultural exchanges.

"I am very excited that the ambassador is coming here and meeting with the governor," Jimenez said. "They will review the progress made on the alliance and give a push to the whole thing."

Also on Huntsman's agenda during his meeting with the ambassador will be the ongoing cement shortage that is blamed for slowing construction in Utah — and Mexico's possible role in solving it.

Thursday, the governor raised the same issue with officials in Washington, D.C.

"We met to raise the cement shortage issue we face in an attempt to find solutions including improving the availability of cement from Mexico while maintaining fair trading standards," he said after sitting down with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

The governor had announced last summer that Icaza would travel here at the end of September. Huntsman, a former U.S. ambassador to Singapore, said the trip was an indication that Fox would indeed come to Utah.

Fox was personally invited to Utah by the governor earlier this year. The invitation was extended during a meeting between the two leaders in Mexico City, where Huntsman was pitching his proposed alliance.

Huntsman's hope is that the alliance could be formalized by Fox here in Utah. Joe Reyna, incoming chairman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said the Mexican president is tentatively scheduled to make the trip in February.

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