U.S. President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold their first in-person meeting in Washington on November 18.
The meeting, to be held at the White House, marks the first summit of North American leaders in five years, according to The Hill. A number of issues will be discussed, including the COVID-19 pandemic and boosting the competitiveness of supply chains in North America, Mexico’s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
“Strengthening our partnership is essential to our ability to build back better, to revitalize our leadership, and to respond to a widening range of regional and global challenges,” the White House said in a statement.
“With respect for each other’s sovereignty and in a true spirit of partnership, we affirm our unwavering vision that North America is the most competitive and dynamic region in the world.”
Mexico will also be focusing on economic development in southern Mexico and Central America, Ebrard told a regular government news conference alongside Lopez Obrador.
Mexico’s announcement confirmed a report by Reuters on Tuesday that the meeting was planned for Nov. 18.
The announcement also came a day after the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said that he hoped concerns over a Mexican legislative initiative to reform the electricity market could be resolved, reports US News.
Digital Journal reported on October 19 that Mexican authorities recently moved to shut down three U.S.-owned fuel storage terminals in the country. Unnamed sources in Mexico’s energy sector cited by the newspaper Reforma, claimed that the federal government was seeking to link private companies to the distribution and sale of illegal fuel.
Under the new rules created by AMLO, the state-run Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) will continue to dominate the market, with at least a 54 percent share. It will also regain the regulatory powers it had lost to autonomous bodies in 2013.
The leftist president was asked at his weekly news conference if he would address the matter in Washington. Lopez Obrador said it was not on the agenda, but that if it did come up, he would tell Biden that Mexico was taking steps to ensure consumers were not subjected to price hikes, according to Reuters.
The leaders started holding what is informally known as the Three Amigos summit in 2005 and met most years until 2016. The practice ended when U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.
