The tour of Latin America by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, ended in Mexico on Thursday 15 June, where she met the country’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In the absence of any announcements on new joint initiatives, the two sides limited themselves to expressing the importance of the partnership between the two parties and underlining the common challenges in many areas: the fight against poverty, respect for human rights, the energy transition, the fight against climate change, migration, health, food security and the defence of international law.
Investments
In a joint statement, they said they wanted to “strengthen bilateral plans and programmes to promote mutual investment and exchanges of knowledge and technology”.
Mexico is a strategic partner in terms of energy, industry and logistics, and European investment will be fundamental to its continued development, the two Presidents said. With this in mind, a joint declaration of intent between the Mexican government and the European Investment Bank (EIB) was signed on Thursday 15 June on a strategy for sustainable financing in Mexico.
Trade
The modernisation of the EU/Mexico Global Agreement is therefore of particular importance, according to the two Presidents. They agreed to “expedite negotiations with a view to finalising the agreement by the end of the year”.
Ukraine
Finally, both parties affirmed their solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
See the joint press release: https://aeur.eu/f/7jw (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)