Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray visited the Otay Mesa II-Otay Mesa East border-crossing project today and attested to the potential of the joint Mexico-U.S. project for making it easier for people and goods to cross our common border.
The Otay Mesa II project is a new state-of-the-art port of entry with a binational traffic management center that will handle vehicle traffic between Mexico and California efficiently.
Earlier, Secretary Videgaray attended a board meeting of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), a planning group of regional officials from the CaliBaja region (California in the U.S. and Baja California in Mexico), becoming the first Mexican Foreign Secretary to take part in this forum.
On his second and last day in San Diego, the Foreign Secretary spoke to SANDAG about key issues of the Mexico-U.S. relationship, reaffirming the importance of the border for the Mexican government.
"The relationship between southern California and Mexico, known as the CaliBaja Region, which includes cities such as Tijuana and Mexicali, is a strategic one. If this region were a country, it would be as big as Peru. It is one of the most successful examples of a neighborly relationship. We understand the region's complexities, which is why we are working together to design projects and make them come true. This is a region of great opportunity for the people of northwestern Mexico and southern California," he said.
On Thursday, Foreign Secretary Videgaray gave a talk on the Mexico-U.S. relationship at the University of California at San Diego, where he highlighted, among other issues, the importance of the work that has been done bilaterally to combat transnational criminal organizations involved in the trafficking of arms, drugs and cash.
"For many years, unfortunately, the debate over drugs has been a blame game on both sides of the border. In Mexico, we blame the United States for the high demand for drugs and we say that this is the problem; while in the United States they say it's a supply problem and that Mexico is supplying drugs to the U.S., so we are the problem. If we keep up this blame game, we'll just be losing a strategic advantage against the transnational criminal organizations," said the Foreign Secretary.
Also on Thursday, the Foreign Secretary met with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to discuss the important relationship between Mexico and San Diego, highlighting the importance for both countries of the modernization and infrastructure projects in the region. And at the Mexican consulate in San Diego, the Foreign Secretary met with community leaders to explain the work done by the Foreign Ministry to reinforce the work of the consulate and to protect Mexicans in the United States.
Lastly, Secretary Videgaray met with leading business executives from the region, welcoming the contribution of Mexican and U.S. firms to the process of modernizing NAFTA and to the cross-border economy.