Today, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray strengthened the country's ties with Mexicans living in Boston, city officials and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) academic community.
In the morning, he met with Mexican entrepreneurs and scientists based in Massachusetts who discussed some of their ongoing projects. The Foreign Secretary commended both their contributions to the region’s technology and innovation community and their efforts to support more entrepreneurship in Mexico.
"I am very proud to meet you and to know that there are Mexicans doing extraordinary things with a lot of passion, with a lot of enthusiasm and not only with talent and a great deal of knowledge, but also with a lot of patriotism, which I can hear in what you say. So, not as the Foreign Secretary but as a Mexican, I would like to say thank you," the Secretary said.
He also met with private sector leaders, business chambers and the senior management of State Street Corporation, highlighting the importance of continuing to promote North America as one of the most competitive regions in the world. He reiterated Mexico's interest in encouraging deeper integration among the region's three countries and underscored the importance of support from key partners such as the US private sector.
The Foreign Secretary then met with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, thanking him for the support and steady work of his office on behalf of the Mexican immigrant community by making it part of the city's economic, cultural, civic and social life. Both officials agreed on the importance of working together on immigration issues and on strengthening Mexico's presence and image in the region.
In the afternoon, Foreign Secretary Videgaray met with the MIT academic community as part of the Mexican initiative adopted by the UN whereby the organization will study the impact of rapid technological change and artificial intelligence on meeting the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals.
He discussed with MIT President Leo Rafael Reif the social and economic consequences of the new technologies on countries' development and how MIT can take part in the analysis.
He then met with MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito to talk about how to maximize the benefits and reduce the risks of using new technologies such as artificial intelligence. He also spoke with a group of academics from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, inviting them to join the initiative Mexico is spearheading in the UN regarding the impact of rapid technological change on sustainable development. Lastly, the Foreign Secretary met with physicist Max Tegmark to learn about his view of humanity's future in the era of artificial intelligence.
The meetings were held to open the door to dialogue between the scientific community and governments in order to design public policies that take advantage of these technologies to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.