Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to begin by again extending a cordial welcome to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, my friend Rodolfo Nim Novoa. Rodolfo: Thank you for being here, you and the whole Uruguayan delegation, for visiting us in Mexico City, at the Foreign Ministry, for a meeting to join forces on substantive issues and engage in concrete actions to forge closer ties between two countries that are friends, that have always had a fraternal relationship. We have concrete opportunities together, opportunities to do things to benefit our socieities, the Mexican people, the Uruguayan people.

We have had working meetings, a bilateral meeting, a very productive meeting where we tackled different issues that are very pertinent at this juncture.

For Mexico, Uruguay is a key ally in our relationship with Latin America. Mexico is a Latin American country. Our heart, our history and our future is in Latin America and Uruguay represents the best of Latin America: A country whose cultural diversity, whose wealth of history, culture, and deep democratic tradition we admire and respect.

The economic relationship with Uruguay has a very special meaning for Mexico. Uruguay is the only MERCOSUR country with which Mexico has a Free Trade Agreement, an agreement signed in 2004 that has allowed us to expand our opportunities for market access, so that Mexican agricultural and industrial producers can sell their products in Uruguay and so we can have high-quality Uruguayan products in the Mexican market.

It is a country of great potential and, therefore, one of the main topics of our conversation was specifically about enhancing our Free Trade Agreement.

Under the leadership of the Economy Ministry, the Mexican government has already initiated the process to do this.  In May, that is, just a few weeks ago, the terms of reference for this expansion were agreed on. 

Expanding the agreement will involve many topics, ranging from the incorporation of new areas, tariff treatments, quota expansion, and creating more opportunities for Mexican entrepreneurs and companies and for Uruguayan companies and producers.

A key part of the economic and trade part of our conversation is Mexico's relationship with MERCOSUR, which today is very positive and promising thanks to the formal interactions between the Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR.

Mexico thanks Uruguay for its leadership in the process of integrating two important platforms for trade in Latin America.  Mexico sees Latin America as a single entity, not as two blocs that each have their separate path. And this process that is underway--and that is based on concrete, pragmatic relationships--of greater integration between the Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR is underway, no doubt, thanks to Uruguay's leadership, which is seen and appreciated by many of us. 

The meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council that we just held was very productive, not only on trade issues but also regarding the political dialogue, technical and scientific cooperation, and educational and cultural cooperation.

We confirmed that the bilateral relationship is excellent and we want to revitalize our joint work to give it greater practical significance in order to benefit our societies. 

We have agreed, among other things, to hold the second meeting of the Committee for Cooperation Against Drug Trafficking and Drug Dependence this year, and we will also have a meeting for migration and consular consultations in the first half of September.

We want to make clear our appreciation for the role Uruguay plays in all of the multilateral forums, particularly in the United Nations Security Council on such important issues as protecting civilians, women, peace and security. We are sure that Uruguay will continue to hold high the values ​​we share and that are the most important and noble causes of humanity.

We agree with Uruguay on our view of the region and on the challenges facing the continent in different areas and we will continue to work together, joining forces with Uruguay in the many causes that unite us. We established our diplomatic relationship in 1831; this is a deep historical relationship, a close relationship and a relationship that we hold very close to the heart.            

That is why we are so happy to welcome the Uruguayan delegation and the Foreign Minister. Thank you for being here, it strengthens us, encourages us and we will continue working hand in hand on this shared path. Welcome to Mexico.