The first North American Mayors Summit was held from June 6-8 in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur to reaffirm and formalize the ties of friendship and cooperation between the cities of the region.
At the summit, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador witnessed the signing of the First Manifesto of Joint Collaboration of the Mayors of North America to Promote the Sustainable Development of Their Cities. The president was accompanied by Baja California Sur Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis; and the Secretaries of the Interior, Olga Sánchez Cordero; Economy, Graciela Márquez Colín; Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU), Román Guillermo Meyer Falcón; Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués; and Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero; as well as the head of Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum. Also at the summit were Carlos Slim, Honorary Life Chairman of Grupo Carso, and Carlos Salazar Lomelín, president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), as well as more than 100 mayors from Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The manifesto is a commitment by the mayors to continue working together on sustainable development and to further deepen the region's economic integration. It was signed by Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the Mexico City Government; Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles and Chair of the Latino Alliance of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; Stephen Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, S.C. and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; and Hilda MacDonald, mayor of Leamington, Ontario, Canada.
At the summit, President López Obrador said the Mexican government wants cordial relations with our neighbors to the north and especially with their people, and he highlighted the importance of spurring development in the south. The president said he was at the summit on behalf of Foreign Secretary Ebrard, who was in Washington, D.C. at the head of the Mexican delegation that had successfully avoided having tariffs levied on Mexican goods.
The First North American Mayors Summit was an unprecedented opportunity to initiate a dialogue between Mexican, U.S. and Canadian mayors that will reinforce trinational cooperation between cities. It reflects the complex integration of our region at the local level. In addition to the work done by the mayors on an urban development agenda, the summit sent a strong message of collaboration in North America. The bonds within the region that make it one of the most competitive in the world were evident throughout the summit.
For the first time, Mayors Enrique Rivas Cuellar and Pete Sáenz, of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and Laredo, Texas, respectively, signed a declaration on strengthening their cooperation. The Laredo border crossing has become the busiest land port in the world, handling 41% of bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States. The mayors of Douglas, Arizona, Robert Uribe, and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Jesus Alfonso Montaño Durazo, announced that they are working on increasing commercial traffic and possibly adding facilities for commercial cargo.
The mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, Víctor Manuel Manríquez González, and Culver City Mayor Megan Sahli Wells renewed a 55-year-old sister city agreement that has facilitated academic and cultural exchanges between both cities. The mayor of Ecatepec, Mexico, Fernando Vilchis Contreras, announced his interest in a cooperation agreement with Leamington, Ontario on local management.
The mayor of Guadalajara, Ismael del Toro Castro, and Austin, Texas Mayor Steve Adler met to continue working on issues related to the creative and digital industries. The mayors of Nezahualcóyotl, Juan Hugo de la Rosa García; Naucalpan, Patricia Elisa Duran Reveles; Coacalco, Darwin Renan Eslava Gamiño; Cuautitlán Izcalli, Ricardo Núñez Ayala; Nicolás Romero, Armando Navarrete López; and Ecatepec de Morelos, Fernando Vilchis Contreras; announced that they would sign a regional agreement with the mayors of Leamington, Ontario, Hilda MacDonald; and Stephen K. Benjamin of Columbia, S.C. on technology, temporary employment and commercial issues. The border cities that take part in the SEDATU Urban Improvement Program also met.
At the invitation of Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, Texas, the Second North American Mayors Summit will be held in his city in 2020.
