Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his country has a better chance of resolving disputes with the U.S. over immigration now that Democrats control Congress.

"With the new composition of the U.S. Congress there are greater opportunities and more potential for making progress on the immigration issue," Calderon said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Calderon, who took office last year, said it was essential to persuade Americans that Mexico and the U.S. have "complementary" economies. "Mexico has manpower, and America has much capital," he said.

The immigration debate dominated U.S. domestic politics for months last year as President George W. Bush sought a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for some of the 11 million undocumented workers already in the U.S.

That measure stalled in Congress after House Republicans demanded that any changes focus on security and border control. Bush was forced to settle for legislation, which he signed Oct. 26, authorizing construction of 700 miles of barriers along the 1,952-mile (3,141-kilometer) U.S. frontier with Mexico.

Calderon recounted that Bush, in a telephone conversation two days ago, said he was pushing forward a compromise immigration reform package on Capitol Hill. Bush made his latest pitch for the plan in his State of the Union address this week.

Democrats are demanding that Bush deliver support -- likely more than a quarter of all House Republicans -- to ensure passage of a bipartisan overhaul of U.S. immigration law.

After meeting with Bush in November in Washington, Calderon said he would continue to work "for secure, orderly immigration that respects immigrants' human rights."