Mexico's president says he plans to use the recently approved package of U.S. anti-drug aid to improve the country's police force.

President Felipe Calderon praised the US$400,000 U.S. aid package in a telephone call with U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday.

Calderon told Bush that "one of his main aims is to improve the technology and capacity of the federal police, in order to continue dismantling the financial and operational networks of organized crime."

Calderon's office said in a press statement said the Merida Initiative aid package approved last week was a sign of the commitment by both countries to fight organized crime.

Authorities say the aid will be given in training and equipment, not cash.