Mexico and Canada Deepened their Diplomatic Ties in 2014

mexidata.com

Monday, January 5, 2015

Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In 2014, Mexico and Canada marked their 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the 40th anniversary of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), and the first ten years of a partnership with shared goals. Both countries agreed to further deepen their relationship and to join together to strengthen cooperation mechanisms with a strategic reach.

 

In February, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his first official visit to Mexico, during which the following were signed: the third Mexico-Canada Joint Action Plan 2014-2016; a Memorandum of Understanding for the Exchange of Resources for the Management of Forest Fires; an Air Transport Agreement; and the Export Development Canada-BANCOMEXT Memorandum of Understanding and Master Cooperation Agreement on commercial financing activities.

 

In education, various student mobility agreements were signed to train young people in areas of interest to both countries, including: a Memorandum of Understanding between the Education Ministry and the University of British Columbia to develop a cooperation program to promote the mobility of researchers and students; a Memorandum of Understanding between the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES); and a Memorandum of Understanding on Educational Cooperation between the Mexican Foreign Ministry and the Governors of the University of Calgary, Canada.

 

During the sixth meeting for consultations with Canada on new and traditional security issues, good progress was made on facilitating the exchange of information, experience and best practices among government officials of the two countries to effectively address common challenges.

 

The Canada-Mexico Partnership was also restructured and an Executive Committee was created to make the partnership more dynamic. A High Level Dialogue on Best Practices and Consular Protection was also begun.

 

The Mexican government has also maintained an ongoing and proactive dialogue with Canadian authorities to discuss eliminating visas for Mexican citizens.

 

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Press release, Dec. 31, 2014, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Mexico, DF; translation by SRE

Mexico gives support

trinidadexpress.com

MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran is flanked by Sabrina Mowlah-Baksh, right, of the Caribbean Coalition for Development and the Reduction of Armed Violence, and Anna MacDonald of Oxfam during yesterday’s Caricom workshop on the “Implementation of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty” at Hyatt Regency hotel in Port of Spain. —Photo: AYANNA KINSALE

By Carla Bridglal carla.bridglal@trinidadexpress.com

Feb 17, 2014

 

Mexico has become the first country to give Trinidad and Tobago its support as this country continues its lobby to be the Secretariat for the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

“I was very satisfied to hear from the Mexican ambassador who visited me (last) week in which he presented a diplomatic note showing (his country) has given its support. Mexico is the first country to do so and it is something I treasure,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran said yesterday, as he delivered the feature address at the opening of a two-day workshop for Caricom on the implementation of the Treaty.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had focused on the Arms Trade Treaty during her maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly three years ago, saying arms and ammunition were the equivalent of weapons of mass destruction for small nations like the Caribbean. At the third CELAC meeting in Cuba last month, she announced that Trinidad and Tobago was willing to be home to the Secretariat.

“It must be established to all the countries in the world the importance of locating such a secretariat in Trinidad and Tobago. Not only in the context of our quest to support the efforts that are taking place but also in our desire to play a more meaningful role in solving global problems,” Dookeran said.

He noted that the 46 international institutions in the world were concentrated in seven countries. Trinidad and Tobago and other countries not in that club must offer themselves for a new distribution of global spread of these international bodies, he said.
   
He noted that a legal infrastructure needed to be in place and subject to global scrutiny, and the logistics of establishing such an organisation needed to be sustainable, as well as funding and cost effectiveness of this proposal, he said.
“The global objectives of the ATT must be adhered to, not just in narrow Caribbean terms but in a global perspective,” he said, as he noted the Treaty’s transition from a diplomatic initiative to a global institution. 

“Building institutions is not a glamorous thing but without it there can be no sustainability. (Countries around the world must understand) the importance of locating such a secretariat in this country, not only in the context of our quest to support the efforts that are taking place but also in our desire to play a more meaningful role in solving global problems,” he said. 

In this context then, he said the workshop will have to address very important issues, among them that arms trafficking is not a Caribbean problem but a global one. 

“We must demonstrate what we are doing will serve a global cause. It is important that our security experts create new opportunities and innovations for handling this issue. Our support from the world depends on our ability to convince them in that regard,” Dookeran said. 

The objective, he said, is to establish in the highest possible international standards for regulating international trade in conventional arms. 

Dookeran said he hoped these discussions will be fruitful for the region, and a significant contribution to world peace and security to ensure armed conflict will be reduced and the impact it has towards humanity mitigated, even as he said he “lamented the disturbances” taking place in Venezuela, where government and anti-government demonstrators clashed in that country’s capital, Caracas. 

As of November 2013, 115 states have signed the Treaty.  All Caricom members with the exception of Haiti have signed and four—Antigua and Barbuda; Grenada; Guyana; and Trinidad and Tobago—are among the eight countries to have ratified it. The Treaty will enter into force 90 days after the date of the 50th ratification.

Mexico, Canada boast diplomatic anniversary

Monday, 27 January 2014 00:10
THE NEWS


Jan. 29 will mark 70 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Mexico, two countries that Canadian MP John Weston said “have much in common and great potential.”

In an effort to create a North American commercial bloc competing with Asia and Europe, the two countries have forged a closer relationship in recent years.

“For the two countries there is much more than we can imagine: 1.6 million Canadians travel to Mexico every year and Canada is the principal foreign investor in the Mexican mining sector,” Weston said.

He added that recently passed reforms give Canada “more opportunities to do business and invest in Mexico,” and that the opportunity to create a “manufacturing alliance” exists.

The 70th anniversary will be celebrated with a series of seminars headed by Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE) North American Undersecretary Sergio Alcocer in Ottawa, Canada. Several academics will also be present to give talks on topics exploring the challenges and opportunities presented by the relations between the two countries.

This year, Mexico and Canada also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA) and 10 years of the Mexico-Canada Alliance of Commerce, a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to deepening and facilitating business community connections between the two countries.