Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard lead a meeting with US congressmen. During the meeting, authorities of both countries endorsed their interest in strengthening binational cooperation on security, trade, agriculture, and migration to address common challenges to make North America a safer and more prosperous region.
Secretary Marcelo Ebrard received a delegation of members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives at the Mexican Foreign Ministry. At the meeting, the delegations of Mexico and the United States discussed binational cooperation on border security, reduction of arms and fentanyl trafficking, as well as current migratory flows in the region.
Within the framework of the Bicentennial Understanding on Security, Public Health and Secure Communities between Mexico and the United States, Foreign Minister Ebrard highlighted the close cooperation between both countries to deal with the flow of synthetic drugs and fentanyl to the north, as well as the importance of a strategy to reduce the illicit flow of arms and ammunition from the United States to Mexico.
“Mexico and the United States seek to stop arms trafficking to the south and synthetic drugs to the north. We share strategic objectives. So the idea is that we have the same technology on both sides of the border to achieve our common objective,” he said.
Roberto Velasco, head of the Unit for North America, added that Mexican authorities have increased operations to seize the number of fentanyl chemical precursors.
Regarding migration, Velasco Álvarez highlighted the reduction of more than 95 percent of the irregular flows of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In this sense, he specified that regular access routes to the United States are an essential pillar in immigration matters.
“Mexico promotes mechanisms that advance regional labor mobility while reducing the participation of human traffickers in the regional migratory flow,” he said.
María de Haas, General Director of Special Affairs, presented the progress and challenges of binational cooperation to reduce arms and ammunition trafficking to Mexico, emphasizing the need to strengthen mechanisms to share information and intelligence on the matter.
At the end of the meeting, Secretary Ebrard delivered a copy of the latest issue of the Mexican Foreign Policy Magazine to the United States delegation, which is analyzing the Bicentennial of diplomatic relations between Mexico and that country.
