Mexico in CELAC: the revitalization of Latin America and the Caribbean

On January 8, Mexico assumed the Pro Tempore Presidency (PPT) of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the only political consultation mechanism that brings together the 33 countries that make up the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The installation ceremony was led by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who endorsed the ministers, vice-ministers, ambassadors and other authorities of the 29 countries attending the importance that his administration attaches to the region.

Prior to the PPT installation ceremony, the authorities had a ministerial meeting headed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon and with the participation of the Secretary of Public Education, Esteban Moctezuma, who shared with the audience the project of the new Mexican school and endorsed its commitment to Mexican work plan projects that involve education.

Foreign Minister Ebrard presented, together with his main collaborators including the Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga and the General Director of American Regional Organizations and Mechanisms and National Coordinator for CELAC, Efraín Guadarrama, the proposal of the Work Plan by 2020 at CELAC.

This plan includes 14 projects that reflect the priorities of the regional agenda and are harmonized with the 5 work axes of the reflection process through which the mechanism went through. Aerospace and aeronautical cooperation, comprehensive risk management for natural disasters, sustainable management of ocean resources, fight against corruption and access to information and resume joint interventions in international organizations of global scope, are some of the points that Mexico proposed to Membership

On the other hand, Mexico mentioned the importance of relaunching the relationship with CELAC's extra-regional partners, including the European Union, China, India, Russia, Turkey, and South Korea, highlighting the holding of the CELAC-China Ministerial Forum at the end of 2020

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The interest on the part of CELAC member countries was highly positive, who thanked Mexican hospitality and congratulated Secretary Ebrard for having an active foreign policy, noting that only Mexico with its multilateralist will would be able to revitalize CELAC. The work plan was approved in its entirety and attendees pledged to coordinate their national agendas with Mexico's work at CELAC.

The meeting was the first public act of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, Felipe Solá, also, it was Rodolfo Nin Novoa's last opportunity to speak as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, who took advantage of the situation to thank the audience for working with them in recent years.

The absent countries were Brazil, Dominica, Trinidad, and Tobago and Bolivia, a country that held the PPT in 2019 trying to resume the work of CELAC without obtaining success.

It should be noted that most of the members of the Lima Group attended the meeting, despite the presence of officials representing the Nicolás Maduro regime, the Bolivarian nation endorsed its full support for Mexico to depoliticize the region's agenda.

In order to succeed, strong political and diplomatic capital will be necessary, therefore, the Work Plan was presented within the framework of the XXXI Meeting of Ambassadors and Consuls (REC) with the mission of promoting the activities of the mechanism in its ascriptions.

It is after this successful meeting that Mexico begins its management in front of the mechanism, without a doubt, 2020 will be a year of much work to demonstrate to the rest of the world that Latin America and the Caribbean can agree and show itself as a front solid before the other regions.