Mexico strengthened its ties with Europe in 2015

In 2015, Mexico strengthened its political dialogue with Europe at the highest level, with many reciprocal visits and meetings with European leaders. Progress was also made in strengthening institutional ties with our major European trading partners.

President Enrique Peña Nieto made four trips to Europe: a State visit to the United Kingdom from March 3-5; to Belgium to attend the seventh Mexico – European Union Summit on June 12; an official visit to Italy from June 13-15; and a State visit to France from July 13 – 16.

Three European leaders made State visits to Mexico: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on February 12; the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, on May 25 – 26; and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain from June 29 to July 1.

The President also held eight meetings with European dignitaries at various multilateral forums throughout the year.

While in New York for the United Nations General Assembly from September 25-29, Foreign Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu met with the Foreign Ministers of Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Also this year, foreign ministry officials visited the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Belgium and Poland, and seven European foreign ministers traveled to Mexico: Italy, Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Serbia.

To strengthen Mexico’s institutional links with its European partners, binational committee meetings were held with Italy and Germany and political consultations were held with Austria, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland and Switzerland.

Lastly, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to establish political consultations with Norway.