President Leonel Fernandez has issued a formal invitation to United States President George W. Bush to attend two important meetings of chiefs of state and foreign ministers from Latin America. This would be the first time that a sitting United States President visits the Dominican Republic. Senior government sources told Listin Diario reporters that the invitation was sent following preliminary talks with Patrick Duddy, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, at the Presidential Palace a couple of weeks ago. Apparently Duddy conveyed the US President’s interest in visiting the DR, one of the few Latin American nations the American leader has not visited during his two terms. The invitation coincides with a meeting on energy cooperation in the Caribbean and Central America. Mexico’s Vicente Fox, Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe and all the Central American presidents will be present. US leaders have visited the DR on a number of occasions. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are two regular visitors, and George H.W. Bush, Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson visited the country while serving as Vice Presidents.