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 QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that the United States wants to strengthen relations with Ecuador's leftist President-elect Rafael Correa and respects his intention to not extend the U.S. military's use of a coastal base.
Reid and a bipartisan delegation of five other senators met for almost an hour with Correa, who takes office on Jan. 15, and expressed a desire to build better bilateral relations.
Asked about Ecuador's involvement in the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, a package of trade benefits that Washington offers in exchange for counter-drug cooperation, Reid said President Bush supports an extension.
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