Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: President Enrique Peña Nieto, distinguished members of the podium, and special greetings to the delegation heads, to the ambassadors accredited in Mexico, to the entire diplomatic corps, it is an honor to welcome you to the National Palace once again, on an important day for Mexico and for our region, a day on which Mexico—under the President’s leadership—has installed our National Council as a government representative to promote and evaluate the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
Every nation must make the effort to develop sustainably, every government agency in each of the countries on our continent.
However, a careful reading of not only the 17 general goals but also of the 169 targets makes it clear that many of them will only be achieved through cooperation and teamwork among nations.
There are specific goals, such as those referring to the small island countries, which for us means specific actions involving the Caribbean countries.
There are others that explicitly say we must cooperate more, in very diverse areas such as the fight against poverty, the elimination of hunger, environmental protection and, of course, the fight against climate change. All of this requires teamwork, an intergovernmental team at the different levels and branches of government and, importantly, the clear, frank, transparent, explicit involvement of civil society organizations as part of the team.
And it requires teamwork from us as a region. That is why we are meeting here today and that is why, on behalf of Mexico, the Mexican Foreign Ministry warmly welcomes you and thanks you for being here.
We are sure that this meeting, which will conclude on Friday, will help define not the goal, because the goal is clear, but rather how we will take the next steps down the path of development that we have decided to travel together.
Welcome, and welcome to our country.
Thank you.
