The President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto and the Vice President of the United States, Joseph Biden were in agreement today when they expressed both countries’ interest in making North America the most prosperous, productive and competitive region in the world.

President Peña Nieto emphasized that both countries are interested in expanding and furthering the relationship between Mexico and the United States, “that could result in more benefits and greater integration and that would make North America a more productive, a more competitive region, a region that brings about greater job and development opportunities for the inhabitants of our nations, and that the region be the driving force behind the development of the global economy”.

Vice President Biden emphasized that President Obama, President Peña Nieto, and he were in full agreement that there was nothing to prevent North America from becoming the most prosperous and economically viable place in the world in the 21st Century.

Both leaders held a press conference after the meeting they held together with their aides at which they discussed topics of mutual interest.

The President of Mexico emphasized the vision of the two countries “to make the relationship between them, a relationship that, within the framework of respect, fraternity, friendship and trust, could help increase collaboration and integration so that the citizens of both nations might enjoy improved opportunities. That is a vision shared by both governments, by both nations, and on which we are working”.

He added that both governments want the relationship to be one that “makes the North America a stronger, a more solid, a more consolidated region that is the pivot for global development in the 21st Century. That is how we see it; that is how we understand it”.

He stated that in the work session of this High Level Economic Group, it was agreed that there was a need to work on the development of infrastructure along the two countries’ common border, a border that is legally crossed by one million people on a daily basis. It was agreed that there was a need to make the traffic swifter, more flowing and safer. “It’s the busiest, most active border in the entire world, over which goods and products forming trade between the two countries also pass”, he added.

President Peña Nieto let it be known that Mexico and the United States have set themselves an ambitious though viable academic goal of “having in the next few years one hundred thousand Mexican students studying in the United States and fifty thousand American students studying in our country”.

He pointed out that it is a goal that the Bilateral Forum on upper education, innovation and research has been outlined and “it will be included in the high level talks we are beginning to have”.

He said that talks are being held to “address not only the areas in which we already have great cooperation”, such as security and the economy; but cooperation must also reach beyond these specific subjects; it must include a diverse range of topics, as diverse as the two governments’ initiative and creativity has allowed, and that is strengthening the relationship”.

Vice President Joseph Biden affirmed that, as President Barack Obama himself said, “Mexico has burst forth”. emerge

He stated that he has expressed to President Obama that “there is no relationship that we value more; there is no economic relationship that holds such promise and there is no region in the world that can do more to generate growth in the next twenty or thirty years than North America”.

He expressed to President Peña Nieto, “the great regard President Obama and I have for you and your leadership”.

He said to President Peña Nieto: “You have transcended party lines to mobilize a large group in order to take these difficult but very important steps”. He mentioned that, just as in the United States, in Mexico efforts are being made to carry out reforms, and he said that “change is never easy, but the policies we have launched with Obama’s government in the United States have helped companies to create 7.5 million new jobs since we came to power, and Mexico is carrying out its own reforms”.

As far as United States immigration reform was concerned, he stated that “it is not just for reasons of justice, respect and dignity for the eleven million undocumented men, women and children that we have to bring them out of the shadows to provide them with a clear path towards citizenship and participation; it is also of vast importance to the economies of both countries that we do so”.

He pointed out that when the US immigration system becomes modernized the economy “shall grow by one trillion three hundred billion dollars from here to 2023”.

Joseph Biden also said that the North American Free Trade Agreement established a new standard for international commerce. “However, the 21st Century is demanding even higher standards than those set by that agreement twenty years ago: markets open to competition, greater transparency in the global economy to make business in any part of the world easier and the protection of the rights of workers, the environment as well as of intellectual property”.

He agreed on the importance of modernizing the common border, including the use of new technologies and extending times at certain crossing points. He also expressed his agreement on not limiting talks to the subject of security, “but rather to build a wider, fuller relationship”.

President Peña Nieto and Vice President Biden stated their mutual solidarity and support for the emergencies in several states in Mexico as well as in the state of Colorado, USA, where damage to transport systems, highways and railroads reaches millions of dollars.